Moments with Wade
by rjr60
Summary: After Scarlett and Rhett reconcile, Wade spends moments with his mother and sisters. Sequel to my story, What Happened to Scarlett. Each chapter is a stand-alone short story.
1. Chapter 1

**Wade Talks to His Sisters**

* * *

Wade led the gray dappled pony into the sunshine from the dimness of the barn. Katie was waiting for him, her big dark eyes uncharacteristically solemn. "Where is your sister? Doesn't she want to ride this fine morning?"

Katie looked up at him. He bent to check her stirrups, and the girth on her saddle; no one in his family ever took the girls pony rides casually, not after what happened to Bonnie. When he was satisfied, he extended his hand to help her mount. To his dismay, her eyes filled with tears; even as he watched, they welled over and began to drip down her face.

"Aw, Katie, what's the matter, Princess?" he crooned. With a complete disregard for his sartorial elegance, he seated himself on the ground and took her on his lap.

"Lanie went into Jonesboro," Katie whispered. "With mama. And _him._"

And she buried her face in the crook of his shoulder, and sobbed as if her heart would break.

Wade held her, rocking her just a little, stroking her hair and waiting until she had calmed down. "Oh, Katie," he murmured. "What's the matter? Didn't they ask you to go?"

"Th-they did," she hiccupped. "But I didn't want to go."

"Why not, baby?" he asked.

"Because _he_ was there," Katie said. "He's always going to be there from now on. Mama's going to m-m-marry him, Wade!"

"Do you hate him, Katie?"

"No! I don't hate him, but I don't love him, either. And I don't want him to be always part of us. I liked it to be me and Lanie and Mama, and now he's going to push his way in and change things."

"Ah. I see what you mean, darlin'. I'm afraid I have no answers for you there, except to say that, in my experience, everything is always changing. Nothing stays the same for very long."

"I don't want him to be my daddy, Wade. I already had a daddy. He died, but that doesn't mean I should just go out and get a new one!"

"No..." he said thoughtfully. "I think you're right, that one person can't replace another. But it's too bad that you don't like him, Katie, because I was hoping that you could help him." She turned her face up to look at him.

"He doesn't need help. He's big; big people don't need children to help them."

"Actually, I thought children might help him more than anything," Wade said, seriously. "Because just like your daddy died, Uncle Rhett had a little girl who died."

Katie's eyes widened.

"He did? What happened to her?"

"His little girl was our sister Bonnie. You remember, we talked about her?"

"Yes. She fell off a horse and got broken." Katie appeared to think about matters very seriously. "I bet he does feel bad," she whispered. "Oh, Wade! I bet I made him feel worse! I told him I was going to stay home and go riding, and he looked like a bee stung him, and Wade, I was glad! But I didn't know it was about Bonnie, really I didn't."

"I believe you, baby. You're not bad. A little thoughtless sometimes, but not bad."

"So what should I do? Should I tell him I'm sorry?"

"No, I don't think so. Just be a little nicer too him, from now on, maybe. 'Cause I bet it makes him sad when you scowl all the time."

"Okay." Katie stood up and gave him that quick, gleaming smile that reminded him so much of Mama.

"Now, do you want to go riding, before Mama and Uncle Rhett get back?"

"Yes, please," she said, and they turned towards the placidly waiting pony.

* * *

Later that afternoon, after everyone was back from Jonesboro, and the twins were down for a nap, Wade sat on the front porch, hoping futilely for a stray breeze. But it was August, in Georgia, and breezes were fairly rare.

He had been there for only a few minutes when he heard a small sound beside him. Turning, he was unsurprised to see that Lanie had crept out of her bedroom and was standing beside him, a mischievous grin on her face. "Hey, Li'l Bit," he said, patting the seat beside him. "What are you doing this afternoon? Aren't you supposed to be napping with Katie, and your cousins?"

"Naps are for babies, and I'm not sleepy, anyway," she said, nestling contentedly beside him. "Besides, I wanted to ask you something. It's about Uncle Rhett."

"So what is it, sweetheart?"

"Well, Katie told me what you said, about Bonnie being our sister, and Cap'n Rhett's baby, too. I thought about that, and it seems -" she yawned, and he hid a grin. No, she wasn't sleepy. "Seems like if he was Bonnie's daddy, he must have known Mama before. Before _us_, even before_ daddy_. Katie and I talked about it. She didn't know – Katie never knows anything – but she said we could ask you. Because you're from before, too, aren't you?"

"Yes, I suppose I am," he said. She laid her head in his lap, and he stroked her fine dark hair and wondered how men who didn't have sisters ever figured out what was going on in girl's heads. Because he was constantly being taken by surprise by the twins, and they were only six.

"So? Did Cap'n Rhett know Mama before?"

"Yes, yes he did," Wade said. If Mama hadn't wanted the girls to know what was the simple truth, she should have said so. "Cap'n Rhett, as you call him, was around when I was a little boy, Lanie, so I've known him a long time."

"Okay, good," Lanie said, her voice drowsy. "So you wouldn't let him stay around if he was going to hurt us, or Mama, or anything, would you? We'll be okay?"

Wade stroked her hair some more. He remembered the house on Peachtree Street, and how after Bonnie had died, it had become a place where it was painful to breathe, where he and his sister felt that the mere fact of their existence reminded the adults of things to painful to bear, where they had slipped around corners and struggled to stay out of sight, had in fact wished that they could just disappear until things got better. He remembered the way Uncle Rhett had spoken to their mother, his voice flat and indifferent, and he remembered the way their mother had looked so anguished, so alone. He had yearned to comfort her, and the hardest thing he had ever had to face in his life up to that point was that he had nothing to offer. It wasn't him she wanted.

But that wasn't Mama's fault, he reminded himself. Or Uncle Rhett's, either. It's just a bad thing that happened, and there's no way it will happen again. Lanie and Katie are safe from that.

"Yes, Lanie, you'll be okay," he whispered at last. "I'll make sure you are."

* * *

**So what do you think? Is this an idea worth pursuing, for awhile, at least? This is a very short chapter; future ones can be as long as it takes to tell the particular story, and each chapter would be complete in itself. Possible ideas for future chapters: Scarlett's wedding, birth of Ella's first child, any future children for Scarlett and Rhett. Ideas would be welcomed!  
**

**Review and let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: For anyone who hasn't read What Happened to Scarlett, it has the back story on one of the characters in this story. Specifically, Wade and Rhett's conversation in Chapter 12, and Rhett and Scarlett's conversation in Chapter 15. So if you don't know who the character is at the end of this story, that's where to look.**

* * *

**Wade Goes to London**

* * *

Wade stared out at the horizon. Nothing to be seen in any direction but water, water that currently reflected the crimson of the sunset painting the western sky.

"It will still be a week before we reach land," Rhett said, coming to stand beside him at the ship's railing, lighting a cigar with a practiced turn of his wrist.

"I know," Wade said, smiling weakly at his once and future stepfather. "I'm just not – not really looking forward to being in England again. I never intended to go back, but here I am."

Rhett glanced at him keenly. "Are you regretting missing out on your year at VMI?" he asked. "Because I'm sure that I could find someone to pull strings to get you in next year, if you really want to go."

Wade sighed. "No, not really. I think I leaped at the idea mostly as a reason to leave England. But now that you and Mama are going to be married, it's only right that I should be at the wedding. And afterward -" he grinned at Rhett, suddenly looking younger than his twenty years, "- afterward, I will go back to Tara and Beau and I will be the terrors of Clayton County. He'll restore the land, and I'll invent things to help make it easier. If I had trained for the military, engineering is what I would have been interested in, so this works out really well for me."

Rhett knew that Wade was talking more to fill the silence than because his words really mattered. "Will you see her while you're in England?" he asked.

Wade looked away, and a moment of dead silence fell between them. "I don't plan on it," he said at last. "I'm just not certain I can stay away." He looked at Rhett defiantly. "I suppose you think that makes me weak?"

Rhett stroked his mustache. "Certainly, it means you're weak," he answered. "But if it helps any to know it, if it were your mother, nothing on God's green earth could keep me away." He puffed on his cigar. "I suppose it's just as well that I never found her while she was married to Tony Fontaine."

After awhile, Rhett left, his cigar smoked. Wade stood at the railing for a long time, staring out at the darkening sea.

* * *

London was just as damp and gloomy as he remembered. They disembarked in the dreariness of the late October evening; fog swirled and eddied about their feet as they made their way slowly along the docks to the two carriages that awaited them – one for the servants and the luggage, the other for the family.

Wade dutifully helped with his sisters; it had been a long day, and they were fractious, wanting attention and crying easily. Sometimes he envied them; it must be nice to feel able to let every emotion show like that. He felt that he had been born with more reserve than either of them ever showed, but he had learned his in a hard school, hadn't he? No war had shown his sisters the dangers of unchecked emotions, and if he had anything to do with it, nothing like that was going to disrupt their childhood. They would be safe and loved and protected.

"It's certainly enough to make you remember why you dislike London, isn't it?" Scarlett said ruefully, and Wade turned to give her a quick smile.

"Now, Mother," he chided her. "You know there is at least one nice day a season in London. That makes four a year. How many do you want?"

Scarlett laughed, as he had hoped, and he felt his spirits rise a little. If he could cheer his mother up, he was good for something, at least. She gave the drivers the address, and slowly the carriage began to move. Lanie and Katie each had their nose pressed to a window. "I don't remember what our house looks like," Katie said.

"Me, either. Is it a big house, like Mimosa, Mama?"

Since the twins discovered that Mimosa would be part theirs some day, they felt that it was the standard against which all other houses should be judged.

"Oh, quite a bit bigger," Scarlett said cheerfully. "It has eight bedrooms, and a ballroom, and a formal drawing room."

"Is Cap'n Rhett going to stay with us there?" Lanie asked.

"No, darling. It wouldn't be proper for Rhett to stay with us until we we're married, so he will stay in a hotel in London until the wedding in three days. Then he and I will go to Paris for two weeks, and you and Katie will stay with Ella and Justin."

"That will be fun. I've missed Ella," Katie smiled. "But where will Wade go?"

That question had worried his mother, and she turned an inquiring eye in his direction. "I – uh, I'll probably go stay with friends, in – um, in Cambridge," he said, barely able to keep himself from squirming like a boy caught in a fib.

"Oh." She studied him for a moment. "Are you sure that's wise, dear?"

"No," he said roughly, stung by the sympathy he could see in her face. "But it's what I'm going to do, anyway."

She nodded, smiling a little sadly. "You do what you think is best," she said gently. Such tenderness from her was rare, and he gave her a smile of acknowledgment.

When they got to the house, Wade helped the girls to explore the rooms upstairs, looking for bedroom which was theirs. Wade knew which room it was, of course, but the girls were having such a good time exploring the bedrooms, examining the decor and commenting on the many things that they didn't remember ever seeing before. Chief among them were gas lights, which they required Wade to demonstrate and explain for them. Even when he was done, they didn't understand how something they couldn't see could burn.

Eventually, they found their old bedroom, which was unmistakable, since it had two double beds and had been decorated in pink, with lace and satin, and had lovely and exotic dolls from around the world on the shelves. The girls fell upon them with cries of delight, and Wade felt he could leave them to their nursemaid, after strictly admonishing her to keep them away from the gas lights.

* * *

Rhett, having deposited Scarlett, her children, the servants, and massive amounts of luggage at the house on Claremont Street, declared his duty complete. Scarlett obviously neither wanted nor needed him, and he felt no wish to spend any time in the house that another man bought her. So he kissed her gently, told her that he would see her tomorrow, and left her to an apparently endless array of domestic chores, exiting the house through the front door, with the intention of hailing a hansom to take him to his hotel.

He had taken only a few steps away from the front steps when a quiet voice said, "Wade, is that you?"

Normally, hearing an unknown female voice hail him on the streets of a large city would have elicited no reaction from him. Street girls had at no time held any particular charm for him, and though he might toss a few coins to a particularly comely or pitiful flower or match girl, he would never use such creatures as so many men did. The fact that this particular girl knew Wade's name, and was waiting here for him on the very day of his return from America interested him, however, as did the fact that her voice betrayed a background as far from that of a street girl as could be imagined.

Turning, he saw a modestly dressed young lady, perhaps nineteen or twenty years old. Her hair, a rather lovely shade of auburn, was neatly but not stylishly tucked beneath a plain bonnet trimmed with mint green ribbons that exactly matched the dress she wore, and complemented very nicely a pair of the loveliest green eyes he had ever seen, excepting only Scarlett's. With the skill of a connoisseur, he assessed her – bonnet, ribbons, dress and all – and made a series of guesses about her status, income and personality just from her attire.

Young matron. Landowning class, what the English would call gentry, rather than aristocracy. Quiet, reserved, with a good but refined sense of humor, and more than her share of intelligence.

And one more guess. "You," he said, "must be Sally."

"You're not Wade!" she exclaimed, backing away from him. "Oh, but how – Pray, sir, could you let Wade know that I am here? I – I really need to speak to him. It's urgent!"

Rhett sighed. His own instinct warned him that whatever this girl was here for, it meant nothing but trouble for Wade, and if he could have saved the boy from it by ignoring her, he would have. Whatever drove her to approach the house alone, at night, and accost the first male figure that emerged, boded no good for Wade and quite possibly meant a good deal of very messy trouble. But ignoring it – and her – would only serve to delay the advent of the problem, not to prevent it, so Rhett shrugged and turned again to the front door.

Scarlett was still in the hallway, and glanced at him inquiringly. "Would you be so kind as to ask Wade if he would join me?" he asked her politely. "There is a matter upon which I feel I need his advice."

Scarlett looked surprised, then shrugged. No doubt it was some odd masculine whim; if it became any of her business, they could let her know later. "Susie!" she called to one of the maids. "Go upstairs and ask Wade if he would join Captain Butler at the front entrance, as soon as possible."

"Thank you, my dear," he said, and quietly closed the door.

"You must be a friend of the family," the girl – who still had not confirmed that she was Sally – said.

"I am going to become Wade's stepfather in three days time," he told her gravely. "Perhaps we should introduce ourselves. My name is Captain Rhett Butler -"

"Oh! You're Uncle Rhett!"

Then the girl blushed, and put a hand to her mouth. "I mean, of course, Captain Butler. Ella has often spoken of you." She extended her hand to him. Oddly charmed by her lapse in manners – and her quick recovery – Rhett accepted it and bowed over it in the traditional greeting. "I am Sally Jennings, which you seem to know. I am a friend of Ella's. And my – my husband, Geoffrey, is a friend of Wade's."

She spoke gravely; in spite of her green eyes, she reminded Rhett much more of Melanie than of Scarlett. He remembered that Scarlett had spoken of her as an entirely proper young lady, one who had no idea how Wade felt about her. So the question of what she was doing waiting outside Wade's house on his first day back in England became even more important, and more likely to mean trouble.

"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs Jennings," Rhett said. "Both Wade and his mother mentioned you to me; Ella did not, but that is probably because the silly girl had other things on her mind. Unimportant little details like getting married, you know." He gave her his best, most charming smile.

"Oh, yes. What a flighty girl she is, to be sure, to forget to tell you something so important, and for no better reason than because she was in the middle of preparing for her wedding." Sally's voice lilted a little with her humor; Scotland? he wondered idly. Or perhaps Wales.

Before he could reply, the door behind him opened and Wade stepped out. "You wanted to see me, Uncle Rhett?" he asked, perfectly polite.

"It wasn't me," Rhett said, stepping aside so that the younger man could see Sally Jennings.

Wade's face lost all expression, and there was a momentary hesitation before he stepped forward and took her hand. A stranger would have read nothing on his face, but Rhett had known him since he was a boy. He saw that the presence of Mrs Jennings was a profound blow to Wade. Looking at her, he saw that young Mrs Jennings watched Wade in much the same way. Poor kids, he thought.

"Mrs Jennings?" Wade said, and his bland voice hid his feelings nearly as well as his blank face. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Sally wasn't as good at hiding her emotions. "Wade, Geoffrey is going to send a note around asking you to call on him while you're in town," she said hurriedly. "I want you to promise me you won't go. Please! I don't -" her voice caught on a sob "- I don't want you to hear what he wants. It's the most awful thing!"

"What are you talking about?" Wade said. One of his hands rested lightly on the wrought-iron fencing that separated the windows of the house from the sidewalk, and Rhett was the only one who could see that his other hand, the one that hung by his side, was clenched into a fist .

"Geoffrey is going to ask you to do something horrible," she repeated. "And you can't agree to it, Wade, you simply can't!"

"So what is it that he's going to ask me to do?"

She swallowed hard. "He wants you to give me a baby."

"He wants _what_?" The shock in Wade's voice was unfeigned.

"He – he can't himself - I mean, we'll never have any children," Sally said hurriedly, her face red. "And – and he knows that I would like one. And so, he decided to ask you – because you don't live here – and Wade, I don't seem to be able to convince him how _wrong_ the idea is -" She looked up at Wade trustingly. "I mean, you see how horrible it is, don't you, Wade?"

Wade stared at her, and Rhett could just imagine the terrible, conflicting emotions that tore him. The opportunity to be intimate with the one woman he wanted, and all he would have to do was to lie to her, tell her that it was all right, sooth her by reminding her that it might easily be the only chance she'd ever have to have a baby. Rhett had just met the lady, but he knew she would want babies, she was the maternal type. Wade could convince her; Rhett knew it wouldn't even be very hard, and he knew from the sick expression that passed over Wade's face that he knew it, too. Geoffrey was offering both of them the chance to have what they most wanted, at the price of their honor.

Wade stepped forward. "Of course I see how wrong it is," he said gently, taking her hand. "If Geoffrey does put any such idea to me, I'll tell him exactly why, too. You're a person, not a – a brood mare, and he needs to respect that."

Sally moved forward, and somehow, Wade was holding her while she cried. He patted her back gently, rocking her a little like he would one of his sisters, and as she sobbed out her sorrow on Wade's shoulder, Rhett lit a cigar and smoked, waiting for them to finish, thinking that Scarlett really had done a wonderful job with her boy.

* * *

**This didn't turn out to be nearly as fluffy as I thought it would be (I set out to write about the wedding, really I did). But sometimes the characters just have a story to tell, and they won't settle down until you do it. I promise we will get to the wedding, though. It's taking place in London so Ella can be there.  
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**Please review and let me know what you think. Too much Wade? Would you rather have more fluff? I'd enjoy reading your opinions, so feel free to send them to me.**


	3. Goodbye, Uncle Rhett

**Goodbye, Uncle Rhett**

* * *

August 5, 1877

Atlanta, Ga

Dear Wade,

You asked me to write to you if I ever heard anything new about Uncle Rhett. Well, I haven't. Father never mentions him at all, and if I do, he just gets that 'look,' the one that says I might as well have burped at the table, or farted in church. Bad manners, and what will people think? Sometimes it seems like that's all he thinks about!

None of the men who come visit him mention Uncle Rhett, either. The women do, especially Mrs Meade and Mrs Elsing, and they don't have anything good to say about him, of course. But there's no new talk, it's all the same old gossip, about how he and Aunt Scarlett got divorced. I don't understand how they can be so upset about that. It happened a long time ago, and besides, your Mama is married to Uncle Tony now, and everyone (including Father) seems to like him better, anyway. So you'd think they'd be happy!

So, anyway, I haven't _heard_ anything about him, but I have _seen_ him. I thought maybe you'd want to hear about that, too, so I decided to write it to you, just in case.

It was Wednesday of last week, which would have made it Aug 1. I got up early, before dawn, cause me and Burl were going fishing. Did you know he and Pork and Dilcey are going back to Tara next week? They worked for Father for a while, but times are hard and he can't afford to pay them. So they're going to go work for Aunt Suellen and Uncle Will.

Anyway, me and Burl went fishing, caught a couple of nice bass. On the way back, I was carrying the creel with the fish in it, cause Burl decided to stop off at the train yard and see if any of the passengers need help with their bags. Sometimes, he can earn a few pennies or even a whole nickel carrying bags for folks but Father won't let me do it. Says it isn't fittin' for the son of a gentleman. But a nickel sure does buy a lot of hard candy down at Mr Elsing's store.

Anyway, I was by myself, walking down Peachtree street, watching the dirt puff up as my bare feet hit the ground. I had my head down, not paying any attention, so I don't know when he came into view. I was passing the house about three doors down from your old one when I looked up and saw Uncle Rhett.

He was standing across the street from the big house there, the one you used to live in. He wasn't doing anything, just leaning against the tree – you remember the maple in the yard across the street, the one you and I used to try to climb? That was the tree. He leaned against it, and stared at the house, and he had a really strange look on his face. It was almost like he was hypnotized, like that fellow in that magazine story you and I read, years ago, do you remember? He didn't even blink.

After a few minutes, he put his hand up against his stomach. I started to think maybe he really was sick, cause he rubbed it, but just when I was going to go ask him if he needed help, the whistle blew for the 6:30 train to Savannah. It sounded louder that morning, shriller, and it startled him, because he jumped. Then he looked around real quick, like he didn't hardly know where he was, and picked up the little leather case he had with him, and walked off real quick in the direction of the train yard.

He had to walk right past me, too, but he didn't speak or even look at me. It was like he didn't recognize me – me, that he's known all my life!

Adults are weird. I think I'll stay a kid a while longer.

Has your Mama had the baby yet? Hope it's a boy; I bet it would be fun to have a brother! Write and let me know, and I'll write if I hear anything more about Uncle Rhett.

See you soon, I hope,

Your cousin,

Beau Wilkes

* * *

Wade looked down into the garden. It was September, and autumn in England could be mighty chancy as far as the weather was concerned. Today was a really gorgeous day, though; the sky was cloudlessly blue, the sun shone warmly, and all the autumn flowers were in bloom. Wade took pleasure in looking at them and naming them in his head, the chrysanthemums and marigolds, the carnations and calla lilies, the hydrangea and lavender and zinnias. His mother liked irises best, and Wade had to admit they were pretty, but his own favorite was the safari sunset, a plant whose aptly named leaves rather than the flowers lent their color to the garden. Wade mostly just liked the name, though; safari gave him a vague mental picture of Africa, and all the places he would like to go someday, when he was grown.

Today, Mama and Ella were walking slowly along the paths between the flower beds. Wade resisted the impulse to go down and make sure that Ella wasn't letting Mama get too tired. Ella always claimed that he didn't trust her, that he had to do everything himself, so today he would let her watch after Mama. He just supervised from the window in his room.

This sure was a pretty house that Tony had bought for them here in England. Mama had chided him for extravagance, but he had laughed, and told her that it was a fit setting for his beautiful wife, and after that, she didn't protest anymore. To distract himself from wondering if it really were too extravagant, Wade looked closer to the house, near the edge of the steps that led down into the gardens. There, if he leaned out the open window and looked straight down, he could just see the carriages that housed his month-old baby sisters.

Twins! Wade hadn't even thought of it, for he had never even known any twins. His mother had laughingly told him that she had been courted by a pair of identical twins, back before the war, but they had died at Gettysburg, and Tony's family had no history of twins. So the pair of babies was a complete surprise to everyone, although a welcome one.

Everyone talked about how they were exactly alike, and Wade had even heard one of the nursemaids saying she couldn't tell them apart. He thought that was silly. Lanie was the one who reached for everything she saw, cooing and burbling in response to every new person or object, while Katie lay back, content to watch, quiet, but following everything intently with those black eyes that were so like her daddy's. How could they not know that?

Satisfied that the twins were sleeping soundly, Wade transferred his gaze back to his mother and sister. Ella was guiding Mama back towards where the babies slept in their carriages, and Wade felt proud of her; she was learning how to take good care, after all. He could see that Mama's face had a bit of color in it, now, and he could hear the cheerful energy that infused her voice. She was recovering from the birth of the babies, and Wade's heart lifted as he saw the signs of her improving health.

He was about to lean out the window and call to them, when he heard a new voice in the garden. "There you are, my loves!"

Wade watched as Tony strode into the garden. " I've been looking for the four loveliest women in England, and how lucky I am that they are all here in my garden." Tony embraced Scarlett, and Wade saw her cheeks grow even pinker as he kissed her gently. He hugged Ella, who responded whole-heartedly, and then they all turned to the pair of baby carriages. The nursemaids quietly retreated into the background, ready to come forward at the slightest sign they would be needed, but no such sign came. It was a picture of upper-class domestic bliss, and Wade watched as all the females he loved formed a circle around this man, this step-father who had never really won him over.

He had always loved Uncle Rhett. Long ago, Wade had decided that once his mother was settled and happy, he would write to Uncle Rhett, and though they might not be able to meet often, or perhaps for years, they could at least stay in touch through letters. He thought that there would come a time when it would not risk his mother's happiness. After the twins were born, he thought that time had come; having read Beau's letter, he knew that Uncle Rhett still thought of them. He had been there, at the house in Atlanta, on Mama's birthday. That proved it.

The only problem was...

Wade remembered his Mama's face, when Bonnie died and Uncle Rhett left. He remembered how she had been pale and listless; how it had taken months for her to smile, and even after they went to Galveston, her laughter was only an echo of what it once was. Not until she met Tony, and came to love him, did she become really happy again.

What if he wrote to Uncle Rhett, and all of that was ruined?

To Wade, it made no sense. Why would Uncle Rhett want to come here and spoil things for Mama? Even if he didn't love her anymore, why not just let her be happy with someone else? Wade didn't think Uncle Rhett would deliberately ruin things for them, but a faint doubt at the back of his mind would not let him rest. Wade didn't think Mama being so terribly unhappy was what Uncle Rhett wanted before, but it had happened, anyway. If it had happened once, could it happen again?

Tony saw him at the window, and waved to him in a friendly fashion. One thing Wade could say for him, he had never been pushy; he had always waited for Wade to come to him, had assured Mama that Wade would grow to love him in time. It had never quite happened... mostly because Wade had never quite _let_ it happen. He had always held back.

"Wade! Why don't you come down and eat with us? We're going to have a picnic in the garden, since the weather is so lovely."

Wade hesitated, then made up his mind. "I think that's a great idea," he called back. "I'll be there in a minute – Uncle Tony."

He ignored the pleased surprised on Mama's face at the new sobriquet. Hopefully, by the time he got down there, she would have thought better about making a fuss over it.

As he left his room, he detoured by his desk. He neatly folded the letter from Beau, and stored the envelope in a desk drawer. Later, he would write to his cousin and tell him not to worry about keeping track of Captain Butler any more. Just before he left the room, he took the top sheet of paper from the stack and crumpled it into a ball, which he deposited in the trash can. Deliberately, he did not look at the three words that had been written on the paper. 'Dear Uncle Rhett...'

Then he ran out into the sunshine, and spent the afternoon playing croquet with his family.

* * *

**This is a little retrospective of Wade's final decision to let Tony be his step-father, rather than just the man his mother was married to. Wade is turning out to be a lot more complicated than I thought he would be. Let me know what you think! I love reviews.  
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	4. Second Thoughts

**Second Thoughts**

* * *

Scarlett sat at her dressing table, examining her reflection in the elegant, gold-trimmed mirror that dominated that wall. She had always loved being able to see herself in mirrors, and when they had decorated this room, Tony made sure that she had a huge mirror, one that was also a beautiful work of art. It saddened her, to think of selling this house and all the tiny, beautiful details that Tony had lavished such care on. They had intended to live here always.

She would take some of them with her, of course. Some things were simply too valuable to sell with the house, like the brush-and-comb set she was admiring at this moment. The back and handle was gold; her initials were spelled out in pearls and diamonds on the back. This was one of the items, and there were many, that she would carefully pack away when they vacated the London house and readied it for the estate agent to show to potential clients.

These trinkets, plus some of the artwork, china and bric-à-brac, would be shipped where ever they ended up living, and probably would wind up in the attic, unless or until the girls wanted to raid them when they were getting ready to set up their own homes. Scarlett felt a moment of regret; although she was not normally sentimental, she felt as if in some ways she was packing up her life with Tony, preparing to put it in storage as she had not done when he died.

And the question surfaced in her mind yet again: was she doing the right thing?

Scarlett wasn't sure.

She worried about her daughters, and the effect her marriage to Rhett would have on them. Ella was already married, and happily settled, but what about Katie and Lanie, her twins, the precious, and permanent gift from her years with Tony? That Rhett would try to be a good stepfather was a given; he had an affinity for kids, much stronger than her own halting and hesitant efforts with Wade and Ella. Even when she set her mind to winning them over, it had taken years before they turned to her naturally, without hesitation.

Sometimes she _still_ saw from the look in their eyes that she had inadvertently hurt their feelings, and often she still saw Wade and Ella exchange that look that told her that they were keeping her out yet again. Protecting her, they would say if pressed. Not trusting her, she knew. They didn't believe that she was strong enough, capable enough, healed enough, to take whatever life sent her way and keep fighting.

And how could she blame them?

They had seen her broken and subdued, seen her in the days when just getting out of bed and getting dressed took an effort that made her grit her teeth, when the urge to admit defeat, send them away to school and turn to the brandy bottle for relief had been such a temptation that she could have screamed. Days when her hands shook and her eyes were red and raw with unshed tears. They had seen her at her very lowest point, and that they had turned out as well as they had still filled her with amazement.

Oddly enough, she knew that she owed this to Rhett. In the odd alchemy of love, every morsel of attention that they had received from their stepfather had been that much more that they could lavish upon her in the days when she needed it so desperately. They had been slow and patient and remorseless, and in the end, they had saved her; or at least, kept her heart alive until Tony could take over and finish reviving her. She had been like a beached dolphin, and her children had kept her damp; they poured the life-giving salt water over her cup by cup, until the tide finally rose and carried her to freedom.

Tony had been the tide, yes, but it was her children that had kept her alive long enough for him to reach her.

* * *

A knock on the door behind her made her turn. Wade entered at her call, ushering in the twins, who for once were subdued and well-behaved.

And also perfectly adorable.

Their dresses, made of deepest rose and ivory velvet, were mirror images of each other. Lanie had a skirt and bodice of rose, trimmed with an ivory apron, collar and sleeves, while Katie's skirt and bodice were ivory, trimmed with rose. Mother-of-pearl combs held their long, curly hair away from their faces, matching the buttons on their dresses.

"Oh, don't you two look beautiful!" Scarlett exclaimed. "I've never seen such precious girls in all my life, have you, Wade?"

He shook his head, but before he could speak, Lanie piped up. "You look very pretty, too, Mama. Cap'n Rhett will like your dress a lot!"

Like the design of the twin's dresses, the style of Scarlett's gown was vaguely medieval. A loose overdress of emerald-green satin parted at the waist in front to reveal an underskirt of scarlet silk. The overdress was tightly belted at the waist, with a large mother-of-pearl cameo holding the belt in place. The bodice was square-cut but not revealing; only the faintest hint of bosom showed. In a simple style very similar to the girls, her hair was pulled loosely back by a pair of mother-of-pearl combs, and she would carry a bouquet of crimson roses that matched the tiny rosebuds that had been skillfully woven into her hair.

"The baskets with your flower petals in it are waiting for you at the chapel," Scarlett told the girls. "Has Wade told you what you are to do?"

"Yes," Katie said seriously. "We will be first -"

"That's 'cause we're important. Wade said."

"We go first," Katie continued, rolling her eyes at her sister, "When the music gets louder. Wade will be there, so he'll tell us when it's time."

"And what do you do when you go down the aisle?" Scarlett asked.

"We scatter the flower petals from the basket so the bride can walk on them. That's you, Mama. Why do you get flower petals to walk on?"

"I suppose for good luck, Precious," Scarlett said. "Are we ready, Wade?"

"Yes, in fact, Ella is already gone ahead. Justin didn't want to leave her; he's treating her like she's made of porcelain these days," Wade said lightly. The news that Ella suspected she might be with child had been withheld from the children until the mother-to-be was more certain, but Wade had no doubt. Ella glowed, just as Scarlett had, with the twins.

"Well, he should," Scarlett answered. "All right, darlings, let's go. Wade, is it still dry and sunny outside? This dress is going to be crushed in a carriage as it is; I don't want to risk getting it wet, too."

"It won't get wet, Mama. The girls will ride in the first carriage, with their nursemaids, and you and I will follow in the second, and I will hold your train so that it is as clean and uncrushed as it may be." His voice was light, but his gaze was gentle as it rested on his mother. He knew that the hint of petulance in her voice was only a result of nerves. "The weather is still great – well, as great as you get for November in London, which means sunshine but cool. It will be warmer in Paris."

"I hope so," Scarlett said absently. The girls were ahead, walking with the nursemaids; they were excited, and hurrying. "Wade... am I doing the right thing?" she asked.

He glanced at her surprised. "Have you changed your mind? Do I need to grab the girls so we can make a run for it?" The humor in his voice was only a cover over his concern, and she knew it.

"No... I just wish I knew for sure that this was the right thing, for all of us. The girls don't even remember Tony; if I marry Rhett, he's all they'll ever know as a father. Is that good enough, Wade? He spoiled Bonnie so."

Wade sighed. "You know why he did that, mother. For whatever reason – whatever had gone wrong between you – he believed you didn't love him. He used Bonnie to make up for that. It was wrong, make no mistake, but I understand why it happened. But it won't happen again, because this time you do love him, and because you were married to Tony, and happy with him, you know how to show it."

Scarlett looked at him and smiled. "You're right. Of course, you're right. This is just nerves."

Her voice was bright and cheerful, but Wade thought she didn't sound at all convinced.

* * *

The waiting area was cool and damp. Wade had the idea, born from years of experience with old English buildings, that the only thing that stopped the English from tearing down everything more than fifty years old and starting over again was the cost. Oh, they talked about their heritage of historical places, but if they could figure out an inexpensive way to replace every Tudor mansion in the country with a nice snug three bedroom cottage with a boiler in the basement for heat, there would a rapid decline in the number of Tudor mansions to be found. Or maybe they'd send the servants to live in them.

His mother talked quietly to the nursemaids, instructing them as they straightened the girl's hair and dresses and gave them their baskets, already filled with pink and red petals – rose petals, from the smell. Katie and Lanie listened as Wade told them again what they were to do, and both of them seemed calm and eager as they waited with him just out of sight of the church door. At the correct moment, when the music changed, he sent the girls through the opening doors, baskets in hand. Then he turned to his mother, who looked far more nervous than either of the two children had, and held out his arm.

"Shall we?" he said. They stepped to the door of the church, the music swelled and changed to Wagner's 'Bridal Chorus,' and all hell broke loose.

Apparently, the twins had not expected another music change, and it startled them, making them think _they_ had done something wrong. Their reactions were typical. Katie clutched her basket of flower petals, sat down on the floor, and began to cry. Lanie threw her basket in the air, emptying flower petals over a startled lady sitting next to the aisle, and raced up the aisle towards her mother and brother. Wade scooped up his little sister, before she could escape; she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his neck. But now he had a problem. His mother was on one arm, his sobbing sister on his other side, and what was he going to do with Katie? He exchanged a perplexed look with his mother, who also didn't seem to have any idea what to do now.

That was when Rhett saved the day. Calmly, he walked up the aisle, picked up Katie, murmured something soothing to her, and gave her a handkerchief. He forever denied Scarlett's assertion that he murmured, "Just like your mother," as he did so.

Then he looked at Scarlett, grinned, and strolled towards her. "Shall we, my dear?" he asked, moving so that he could offer her his free arm. Scarlett looked at him helplessly; from her expression, she was trying but failing to think of some way to salvage this. Then, for the first time in its six-hundred year history, the phrase "Well, Fiddle-dee-dee!" was heard in the small stone chapel. Scarlett took Rhett's arm, and the five of them walked down the aisle to where the priest waited.

* * *

**One of my guest reviewers mentioned that it seemed the twins were unnaturally well-behaved for only being six. So I thought an example of more age-appropriate behavior would be good. I've never been to a wedding with very young flower girls where there wasn't a problem! But they're usually so cute, no one really cares!  
**

**So what do you think? Please review; I love to hear from you!**


	5. On the Riverbank

**On The Riverbank**

* * *

The noise of the crickets and bullfrogs made a low background drone at the house, but rose to a cacophony here on the river bank. Wade leaned against the oak tree and smoked one of his stepfather's cheroots, a bad habit he had picked up in the last few months. He had always like the smell of them; they were an olfactory trigger for his clearest memories of Uncle Rhett, right down to the way he stroked his mustache, and laughed when Bonnie and Ella did something amusing. For years, Wade had avoided them, but the need for that had passed; he could think of Uncle Rhett now.

Footsteps sounded on the path behind him.

"Bad habit," Uncle Rhett said, his voice neutral.

"I suppose," Wade answered. He had come out here to be alone, but now that Rhett was here, he realized he was glad. He didn't want to talk, but he needed to, and his stepfather could be trusted to listen and not judge.

"Your mother worries about you," Rhett said.

Wade nodded. "I know she does."

Both men stared out at the water for a few minutes, watching the silvery current flow by, undisturbed but for the occasional jump of a catfish.

"There's really no need, though. I'll be fine."

"You got a letter from England today," Rhett said, and Wade drew in a sudden, deep breath, as if Rhett had pressed with unexpected firmness against an injured place.

"Yes. It was from a friend of mine, a fellow I knew at Cambridge."

Rhett made an encouraging noise.

"He caught me up on some old friends. You know the kind of thing. Who's in love, who's overspent their allowance, who won awards, or lost them. That kind of thing." He sighed. "If we were women, we'd call it gossip."

"Yes," Rhett said. "But since we aren't, we just call it news. So what was there in this letter that has you standing down at the riverbank after midnight, smoking a cigar and staring into the water?"

"At the end, in the very last paragraph, he -" Wade swallowed hard. "He mentioned her. Sally. He said that she was pregnant. 'About to pop,' was the way he actually -" Wade's voice broke, and he paused. "- the way he actually phrased it."

Rhett let out an audible breath. "Wade, I'm sorry," he said.

Wade laughed, a rough, ragged sound. "Oh, I am, too. And you know what I'm really sorry about, Uncle Rhett? I'm sorry I behaved honorably, sorry I did what a gentleman should do, because I didn't help her, not in the least; what she was afraid of still happened, and now I'll have to spend the rest of my life wondering who it was, and thinking that it could have been me. If it was going to happen anyway, at least it could have been my child -"

"And do you think it would have been any better for you if it had been?" Rhett asked. In spite of his neutral tone, it was obvious what he thought the answer should be.

"I don't know. I just don't see how it could be any worse," Wade said. "When I think of her with another man, it makes me want to do something violent. You don't understand, Uncle Rhett -"

"Don't understand? There's no one on earth who understands better than I do!" Rhett said, and the repressed anger in his voice caught Wade's attention.

"What? Mama – you weren't around when Mama was married to Uncle Tony. You never saw them together - "

"Not Tony, although I suppose that would have been worse, since your mother loved him. No, the man who your mother was with when I loved her was Frank Kennedy."

"Ella's father," Wade said, suddenly understanding. "I'm sorry, Uncle Rhett. I didn't know that you loved my mother that far back."

"I've loved her since I first saw her, at that barbecue at Twelve Oaks, when she was sixteen," Rhett said slowly. "Oh, I caused myself a lot of needless problems refusing to admit it; if I had allowed myself to believe I was really in love with Scarlett, I could probably have married her while she was first a widow, right after your father died. But I was a fool, and told myself it was just a brief infatuation, that I would get over it, like I always did before."

"You have her now," Wade hastened to reassure him. "Mama loves you now. I can see it in her eyes when she looks at you."

"Yes, but we wasted a lot of years. Since I first saw her, she's been married to three other men... had four children with them... I could never regret your birth, Wade, or the birth of your sisters, but sometimes when I think about your mother with other men, it still makes me angry enough – jealous enough – to want to hurt someone. The fact that it's always been my fault, that I could always have prevented it, makes things worse, not better."

"How could you have prevented Mama from marrying Ella's father?" Wade asked. He wasn't really all that curious, but right now, anything was better than his own thoughts.

"Do you remember the night we left Atlanta, Wade?"

Wade shuddered. "A little. The way you would remember a nightmare. I remember fires, and being afraid – so very afraid."

Rhett nodded. "I helped your mother to leave the city. Actually, I was startled to discover that she was still there. I thought that all civilians had evacuated days before. Certainly, all the sensible ones had. But when I found out that she was still there – she had assisted your Aunt Melly to have Beau – I did my best to get her out. Stole a horse and a wagon -"

Rhett stared thoughtfully out at the river for a moment.

"It must have been difficult."

"Yes. And once we were out of the city, I made a decision, one I've always puzzled over..."

"To leave her and join the Army," Wade said.

"Yes. I've often asked myself what might have happened, if I hadn't. Certainly, there would have been no Ella; I'd have worked myself to death, stolen, even killed, to prevent Scarlett from having to go to Atlanta and find that tax money."

"And yet, she asked you for it first," Wade said.

"How do you know that?"

"I was six by then, and my life in the last year of the war and the first couple of years after had taught me the wisdom of being seen _and_ heard as little as possible. I listened from under the table as Mammy and Aunt Melly helped Mama cut out a new dress from the curtains. I saw her face when Aunt Melly teased her about going to you for the money. I was little, but not stupid. Not about Mama. There were, of course, some ramifications I didn't understand – a woman asking for money from a man she wasn't related to – but I knew she was going to ask you. Next thing we heard, Mama had married Aunt Suellen's beau, and I was moving to Atlanta."

Rhett nodded. "She did ask me," he said. He paused, struggling to find words to explain what had happened without giving information no son should hear about his mother.

"Did she try to charm you into giving her the money?" Wade asked. Rhett looked at him sharply, and Wade shrugged. "That's the only reason she would need a new dress that I can think of. She couldn't have wanted to look respectable to borrow the money from the bank; even if they were open again, and I'm not sure they were, they would have known just how bad things were in rural Georgia. She wouldn't have gotten a dime."

"I suppose not," Rhett said slowly. "No, she did ask me for the money. Only the Yankees, who also suspected that I had money, had thrown me in prison. I couldn't get the money she needed from my accounts, not without risking them impounding my entire fortune..."

"So you turned her down, and she married Frank. Well, that's a bit of bad luck, since you loved her, but I can't see that it's really your fault."

Rhett hesitated. "I could have gotten the money for her," he said.

"What?"

"I had – a friend. She wasn't in jail, and she had money. All those soldiers in town? Sure, Belle had all kinds of money. And she would have loaned it to me, if I had asked, but I didn't."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because your mom made me mad," Rhett said. Even now, it made his stomach clench, to remember how he had felt when he realized that Scarlett had played him for a fool. "No, let's be honest; she hurt me, when I realized she was flirting with me to get money. And so I laughed at her, told her I didn't have the money and couldn't get it. But there were two things I didn't yet realize about your mother, Wade."

"And what would they have been?

"I didn't realize that she's never more dangerous than when she's cornered," he said. "And I didn't know – truly did not know – how much Tara meant to her. Although I should have. After all, she came to me for the money, and after the way we parted, that couldn't have been easy for her."

Wade nodded. "I think she might have had less trouble leaving me to starve to death on the side of the road somewhere, than to give up Tara. It would at least be close." His voice was wryly amused; he understood his mother well.

"Your mother's maternal instincts were slow to develop, to say the least," Rhett said.

To his surprise, Wade glared at him. "You've said that before," he said. "But it's not true, Uncle Rhett. My mother is not very comfortable with hugs and kisses – her mother was never very affectionate, so she never learned how. She showed her love by _doing._ When I was little, at Tara, I used to cry when I was hungry. My mother got in the habit of giving me half of her food at supper, so that I could go to bed with a full stomach. And that was when there wasn't enough for anyone, and she was in the fields working under the hot sun like a full-grown man. So no one gets to tell me that my mother didn't love me, because I know better!"

Rhett sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, and I never knew that – about your mother giving you some of her food, I mean."

"Seems like there were a lot of things you didn't know," Wade said. "Besides the things we've already talked about, there's at least one more I can think of right off-hand. How could you think that you could ever win her affections when you were spending your free time – the evenings when you weren't at home – in a whorehouse? From the time you came back from your honeymoon, you did. I heard the women who came to take tea with my mother talking about it, and if I heard, you can be sure that she did."

Rhett hesitated, then shrugged. "In retrospect, it seems remarkably foolish," he said. "Like a lot of things, I handled that situation badly. I should either have avoided Belle's saloon like the plague, or explained to your mother that I only went there to play cards and have a drink. But I had some vague and muddled idea of proving that I wasn't her lap-dog..." Even to himself, it sounded like a lame excuse.

"Well, you proved it all right. To the point where my mother thought you cared nothing for her at all. So she had no problem not caring for you."

"Well, I got my just desserts, didn't I? I spent years not knowing where your mother was."

"Well, what did you expect?" Wade asked. "You sent her divorce papers!"

"Yes, but I never expected her to sign them!" Rhett snapped back.

Wade stared at him. "You mean, it was a bluff?" he said. "A bluff? And she called it?"

"I don't know that it was a bluff, exactly," Rhett said. "I just – I did think I wanted the divorce. Only... I expected to have to fight her about every detail. For years, probably. And I thought she would be there. In Atlanta, or at Tara. Where I would know where she was and what she was doing. I didn't think she would just sign the papers and walk away."

"A bluff, then. She gave you exactly what you said you wanted, and left you to discover that you didn't want it after all."

"More or less," Rhett said.

Wade laughed, and the two men turned and began to walk up the path towards the house. The full moon cast eerie shadows through the trees, illuminating the path in odd patterns that danced with every breeze. "You know," Wade said, "in at least one way, I think it's a shame that Mama is not a man."

"I hesitate to ask, but in what way is that?"

"She would have made a helluva poker player," Wade said.

Rhett laughed, and agreed.

* * *

**I'm baaack. Sorry it's been so long between updates (for me, anyway!). I had some personal stuff that I had to get done. But today, I finally had some time to write again, so I wrote this little conversation between Rhett and Wade. Poor Wade, his love-life just keeps getting worse, but at least the conversation with his stepfather makes him realize he's not the only person who wanted what he could not have. **

**Please review and let me know if you liked it. **


	6. The Proposal

**The Proposal**

* * *

Scarlett sat on the sofa beside Rhett, their hands entwined, and looked at Wade. He stood in front of the fireplace, warming himself at the crackling blaze. "I don't think I'll come to England with you for Christmas," he repeated.

Scarlett looked up at him, her face showing mild disappointment, but no surprise. "No? Your sister will be let down, I think."

"All of your sisters," Rhett added. "Lanie and Katie adore having you around. And your niece will be just at the crawling stage, so an extra pair of hands would probably be useful."

Wade laughed ruefully. "That's true," he said. "They can sure get around, once they learn to get up on their hands and knees. I remember when Katie and Lanie were that age; we had more trouble keeping up with them! Two nursemaids were not enough; it would have taken dozens."

"So? If you aren't put off by the idea of being on babysitting duty, why don't you want to go to England with us?" Scarlett asked.

Wade felt his face reddening, and knew that his mother saw, and understood.

He also knew that she disapproved.

She had never come right out and said so. She was polite, but no one could do cool politeness quite like his mother. Wade knew, however, and worse yet, so did Penny.

_He tried to talk to Mama about it. "You approved of Penny for Beau," he had argued. "So why do you dislike the idea of her being with me? Penny is a perfectly nice girl!"_

_ "You just answered your own question," she replied._

_ "What?" he asked, shaking his head in confusion._

_ "You just described her as being 'a perfectly nice girl,'" Scarlett said. "It's the most polite way I would have described your father before I married him. 'A perfectly nice young man.' Yes, but one who I didn't love, much less adore passionately -"_

_ "Mother, there's already been one woman who I adored passionately. That didn't work out -"_

_ "So now you're going to **settle**. Like an old man, finding a woman who will nurse him in his old age, while he dozes by the fireplace? Wade, you're twenty-two years old! There are plenty of girls in the world that you can enjoy, even a few that you could love, but if you marry Penny, you cut yourself off from the possibility. It's unfair to you, and even more to Penny."_

_ "What do you mean, unfair to Penny?" Wade demanded. He did not regard his attentions as harmful to Penny._

_ "Penny and Beau quarreled," Mama said. "But instead of letting them patch things up themselves, you consoled Penny, causing Beau to believe you cared for her. He turned his attentions to someone else, leaving Penny upset – and even more likely to turn to you. You left her with no other choice except to let it look as though she had lost two boys who were courting her, and believe me, in the romance jungle inhabited by young girls, **nothing** could be more fatal. All of this could have been avoided if you had just let Penny and Beau solve their own problems. I'm not going to do anything about it – no sneaky tricks or talks with Penny behind your back – but there's nothing you can do that will make me approve."_

_ And she didn't. Penny was welcome in their home when Wade brought her, but his mother's cool reserve continued, and Penny felt it keenly. Rhett treated her with more warmth, but Penny knew that it was his mother's opinion that really mattered._

"Well?" Scarlett asked. Her face remained perfectly calm, but Wade knew she felt deeply about the matter.

"I'm going to get Penny a ring for Christmas," he answered quietly. "I hope she'll agree to a June wedding."

His mother studied him, a faint smile on her face.

"What?" he said after a moment.

"No doubt you'll take this entirely the wrong way," she said. "But I believe I would say the same thing if you were proposing to a girl I adored, and couldn't wait to welcome into the family. For your own sake, I hope she turns you down, good and hard."

Wade was taken aback. "Why?" he asked.

"Because you need taken down a peg or two," Scarlett said bluntly. "Any man who announces his intention to propose in a tone that confident, needs to be shaken up firmly, but I don't think Penny is the girl to do it. If she was, I'd give you my congratulations with much more enthusiasm." She rose and went to him and kissed his cheek. "I hope you'll be very happy, darling."

Rhett and Scarlett and the twins left Pine Bloom on the third day of December. They would catch a train to Savannah, then take a ship to England. Once they were gone, Wade invited Beau to join him at Pine Bloom, an invitation his cousin accepted with alacrity. His Aunt India, with whom Beau now lives, had become a very capable farmer, but her dour personality did not endear her to a male on the cusp of manhood.

The two cousins spent the weeks leading up to the holidays very pleasantly. They rode and fished and hunted; they told stories, had shooting contests, and drank the hard cider that Pine Bloom had always been famous for. It was, they both agreed, delicious.

They attended a number of parties in the weeks leading up to the holidays. The dullest, they both agreed, was the one put on by Penny's aunt and mother; neither of them understood what young men needed to consider a party lively, and Penny was too shy to liven things up much. A much more enjoyable event took place at Amos Hatcher's place. Amos had been a small farmer even before the war, and a small farmer was what he was now. He had his barn, a violin, his four sons, and a half-a-dozen sweet-natured girls from other small farms in the county; all the young men, including Wade, vied to dance with them.

The next day, as Wade and Penny sat on a bench in her parents garden he asked her to marry him.

She looked at him with the fine hazel eyes that were probably her best feature, and for a moment, it was as if she looked into his soul. "Are you sure you want to do that, Mr Hamilton?" she asked, and for an odd moment, he really wasn't sure.

Then his mind cleared, and he smiled at her and took her hand. "Of course, I'm sure, Penny. You'll make an excellent wife, I'm certain of it."

She smiled at him. "Then – thank you. I should be pleased and honored to marry you."

He bent to kiss her, and was only a little dismayed to discover that she kept her lips tightly pressed together. Well, he thought, Penny's probably never been kissed passionately before. There's plenty of time for that.

"Could you do one thing for me... Wade?"

"If I can," he answered.

"Let's don't announce this until New Years Eve, please? Just to give me time to – to grow accustomed?"

"All right," he agreed.

Three days after Christmas, he received a telegram from his sister. It said, quite simply, that Geoffrey Jennings had died of pneumonia on the previous day.

Later, Wade would wonder about the telegram. It was from Ella, to whom he had never spoken about his feelings for Sally Jennings. Ella knew that he knew her, of course; Sally had been to their house to play with Ella any number of times when they were growing up in London. So it would not have surprised him if she had mentioned it to him in a letter, or during a conversation; it was the kind of information that one did pass on. But the sending of a telegram implied that she not only understood how important the knowledge might be, but understood that it was urgent that he get it now, rather than later.

When he first read the words, however, he could only think that Sally was free, and that he could go to her openly, the way he had always wanted to. He could – and then he remembered Penny.

Sally was free, but he was not.

The next day, he called on Penny. Though it was a blustery day, the sky thick with clouds, she asked him to walk with her in the gardens. Too unhappy to even care, Wade strolled with her along the paths of winter-denuded bushes, barely even noticing the way the wind plucked at their garments like frozen fingers.

After a moment, she paused, and he looked down at her inquiringly. She caught his gaze within her own hazel eyes, and their was another moment similar to the one that had happened when he proposed. "You are ready to retract now?" she asked.

"I – what are you talking about?" he asked, confused.

"Your proposal," she said. "You want to take it back now, yes?"

"I haven't said anything about taking it back!" he answered.

"No, you haven't said anything, but I know,"she replied simply. "I saw it the other day, when I looked into your eyes when you proposed. Sometimes I just know things, Wade."

"What did you know?" he asked, taking her arm and pulling her around to look at him. "What are you talking about, Penny?"

"I knew that if I asked you to wait until after Christmas to announce it, it would never be announced at all," she said. "And I knew that would be for the best. For your happiness, and mine." She hesitated, and then added, "You are a very nice man, Wade, but I don't believe that I feel for you what a wife should feel for her husband. And therefore, it would be very wrong of me to marry you."

"Are you sure of this, Penny?" he asked.

She looked into his eyes again. "Yes, I'm sure," she said softly. "Would you do me one more favor, Wade, before you go to find the one you love?"

"Anything," he said, lifting her hand to his mouth and kissing it fervently.

She smiled. "I apologize in advance," she said, a hint of a mischievous smile curving her lips. "But would you make sure and tell Beau before you go?"

He didn't understand the secretive smile and the apology until he told Beau that he had broken things off with Penny, and Beau responded by punching him as hard as he could in the mouth. The two young men spent an interesting half-hour, with Beau trying to hurt Wade, and Wade trying to get his cousin to calm down long enough to be told that it had been Penny's idea. Apparently, his mother had been right again; Beau only broke off with Penny because he thought Wade wanted her, and now his cousin was furious at the idea that Wade had hurt her.

When Wade finally managed to settle Beau down, the two of them talked for a long time. Wade told Beau what had happened, including Penny's 'seeings,' and after a moment of open-mouthed surprise, Beau nodded. "I remember there were stories about her grandmother," he said. "They used to talk of her having the sight – they say she predicted the coming of the war, and that we would lose it – when she was just a girl. Thirty years before it happened."

Wade shook his head. "I'd never have believed something like that, if I hadn't just had the conversation with Penny," he said.

"Well, it doesn't take the sight to know what we need to do now," Beau said, smiling.

"Oh? And what's that?"

"You need to get on a ship to England, to go and win your lady, and I -" he glanced down at the blood and dirt that stained the front of his shirt, "- need to clean up, so I can go win mine."

"Guess you're right," Wade agreed. "Good luck, cousin."

"And the same to you."

* * *

**Well, it looks like things are looking up as far as Wade's love-life is concerned. For those of you who consider it implausible that Geoffrey, who was only in his early twenties, should just suddenly die, I will say that even today, paraplegics have sharply reduced life-spans, mostly because of the increased risk of severe infections. In those pre-antibiotic days, pneumonia or a kidney infection might easily carry him off very young. A tragedy, but an all-to-common one  
**

**Review and let me know what you think. Should Wade win his girl? Or does he find that the luster is gone once he can court her openly? I value your opinions.**


	7. Plum Pudding

**Plum Pudding**

* * *

"Psst! Katie!"

Katie had been almost asleep when she heard her sister's sibilant whisper. Rolling over on the small bed that was a perfect match for the one Lanie was now sitting up in, she groaned.

"What is it, Lanie? I almost fell asleep!" Katie complained.

"Let's go downstairs and see if we can get some of plum pudding that's left-over from the twelfth night dinner last night!" Lanie said, throwing back the covers and rising from the bed."

"Lanie! You know that's a bad idea. Cap'n Rhett told us last time that we shouldn't go sneaking into the kitchen to get cakes and cookies; we nearly gave the tweeny a heart attack!"

"We aren't going to _sneak_," Lanie said, with lofty dignity. "We're just going to _go_. And we won't give the tweeny a heart attack, 'cause we'll wake her up and share the pudding with her. Come on, Katie! You know she probably never gets any sweets, 'cause she's the lowest one of all the servants, so we'd be doing her a _favor_ by getting her some pudding."

"Not if she gets in trouble for stealing it," Katie answered.

"She won't get in trouble. It was such a 'normous pudding, I bet there's huge amounts left over. They'll never miss a little slice," Lanie said. "And it was sooo good, remember? All full of lovely raisins and spices..."

So without quite knowing how it happened, Katie found herself considering going with her (slightly) older sister on a foraging expedition to the kitchen, even though she had sworn to Mama and Cap'n Rhett that she wouldn't. It was just that Lanie had a way of making the most outrageous schemes sound perfectly reasonable when she proposed them. The fact that they almost always got caught, and punished, never seemed to deter Lanie.

On the other hand, Katie had noticed that the tweeny always looked hungry, and a little frightened. Perhaps they could find a way to help her feel better.

"All right," she said, pushing back her own covers and reaching for her wrapper. "But if we get caught, I'm telling Mama that it was all your idea."

"Mama would know anyway," Lanie said, pulling her own wrapper around her. "But it doesn't matter, cause we're not going to get caught."

Silent as silk on polished wood, the two girls crept down the main staircase into the foyer. In spite of the lateness of the hour, they knew better than to risk using the servants staircase, for they could never tell which servant might be still up, performing an unexpected, middle-of-the-night chore. They slipped into the dining room, and then into the door leading to the servant's areas. Hand-in-hand, the two girls tiptoed down the narrow hall with its undecorated walls and bare floors. They paused outside the kitchen door, surprised and dismayed to see light coming from under it. Someone was up, even though it was long past midnight.

"Let's go back to our room, Lanie!" Katie whispered. "We're going to get caught."

"Wait a minute," the elder twin whispered back. "I want to hear who Annie is talking to. She's too young to have a caller; that's why they trust her to sleep in the scullery, near the door. She's supposed to warn them if anyone breaks in, but she's not supposed to let anyone in. So who's she talking to?"

For they could both hear voices. One, a young female voice, clearly belonged to the tweeny, punctuated as it was with giggles. The other was deep, and masculine, and seemed oddly familiar. It wasn't Cap'n Rhett, and it wasn't Justin; Katie listened more carefully, then she knew.

"Wade!" she cried, throwing open the door and leaping into the kitchen to be swept into her brother's embrace. "Wade, what are you doing here! You're supposed to be at home at Pine Bloom, getting ready to get married!"

"I know," Wade laughed, hugging both of his sisters while the tweeny watched, her mouth hanging open. Probably she had not been hugged by her brother, if she had one, in years; she would have left home to go to work at the age of eight, and afterwards would have seen her family only on her every other Sunday afternoon off. "But Mama jinxed me."

"What did she do?" Lanie asked, crawling her way up onto his lap next to Katie. Often she said she was too old for that, but sometimes, sitting with Wade was very comfortable.

"She told me that I was over-confident, and that it would be better for me if Penny turned me down. Good and hard, was how she said put it, I think."

"Was Penny mean to you?" Katie was horrified at the thought. She had always liked Penny, but if the older girl was going to be mean to Wade, she would hate her forever instead.

"No, in fact, I believe she was as kind as she could be, under the circumstances. She really wants to marry Beau, I think. I shouldn't be at all surprised if they're engaged when I get back."

"Are you very unhappy, Wade?" Katie asked, turning her wide-eyed gaze to his face.

"No, sweetness, I'll be just fine," he told her, seriously. "I don't want you to worry about me, you hear? Penny and Beau will be very happy together, I'm sure."

"So, Wade," Lanie said, and both her brother and sister looked at her with an eyebrow raised. Katie knew what that tone meant; Lanie was thinking of something devious. "I bet you're really hungry, after your long trip..."

Wade and Katie looked at each other, and burst into laughter.

* * *

Ella looked at Wade, a hint of impatience showing on her perfectly groomed features. "Of course, I knew how you felt," she said, surprised that her brother should have to ask. "As did Mama, and Uncle Rhett. I didn't talk about it to you, because I know that seeing me unhappy about it would have made you even more miserable. If I couldn't comfort you, I could at least refrain from bothering you about it. I gave you someone to talk cheerfully to, to laugh with when you could, and who allowed you to mope without asking endless questions."

"So, that telegram..."

She nodded, as if he'd asked a question. "I was there with Sally when Geoffrey died, and in the carriage on the way home, I remembered what Mama had said, about Penny. She was most upset at your intention to marry her, though she had nothing against the girl herself." She glanced at Wade reproachfully, as if he had impugned their mother's judgment.

"Yes, I know," Wade agreed. "She picked Penny out for Beau."

"Well, there you are then." Ella waved her hand dismissively. "How could you have thought that a girl who would suit Beau would do for you, Wade?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, forgive me for having had an opinion! Now, could you please get to the telegram?"

"Of course. You had only to ask, dear brother." Ella took a tiny sip of tea, then reached for one of the cookies – no, biscuits; here they called them biscuits. Only when Wade expressed his displeasure by a low growl did she look at him, her eyes brimming with amusement. "I'm sorry, Wade. You are almost the only person I can tease anymore. Mama, bless her heart, has such a dreadfully literal sense of humor, and Justin and I are not often together in situations that allow teasing."

"Okay," he said, smiling reluctantly at her. Sometimes, looking at his sister as she was now, Wade forgot that she used to be the little rag-tailed girl who followed him everywhere. Now she was every inch a lady, a wife and a mother, and he found that he missed his urchin. "The telegram?"

"Ah. Yes. Knowing what Mama had told me about your intentions with regard to Penny, I thought it best that the information about Sally's bereavement be placed in your hands as soon as possible. So I stopped on the way home and sent had the footman go with me to the telegram office in Paddington Station, where I sent a telegram." She shrugged delicately. "I don't think it mattered much as far as time, however."

"It did matter," he assured her. "I was on the verge of making a serious mistake, I assure you. Even a week might have made a great deal of difference, as far as the difficulty of extricating myself is concerned..."

She gave him a withering look. "Oh, I have no doubt that I saved your bacon!" she said inelegantly. "It's only that when I arrived home..."

* * *

_Ella stepped down from the carriage. The light of dawn had begun to streak the sky, and as she stepped from the carriage, she heard the first twitter of birdsong. It was a brand new day, and Ella paused, paying no attention to the footman who waited to escort her into the house, or the driver that waited to take the horses around to the stable in the mews. She would never have the complete lack of awareness of servants that marked a true aristocrat, but neither did she allow their comfort to dictate what she did anymore. She paid well, and made sure that working conditions were as light as could be made reasonable, but in the long run, these people were employees. Their convenience waited on hers._

_ So Ella stood on the lower stairs, breathing in the damp air (so fatal to anyone with weak lungs, but so lovely for the complexion!), and trying to forget the death and despair she had seen tonight. Geoffrey had never been a particular admirer of hers, but she had danced at him at balls; once when they were all children, he and Wade had taken her to a winter street carnival, and they had all gorged themselves on roasted chestnuts and meat pies. Wade had dared Geoffrey to eat an eel from one of the vendors who sold them, and Geoffrey had done so with perfect aplomb. __They had returned home, laughing and flushed with the cold and the energy of youth._

_ Thinking of the laughing boy who had been so vibrant, it was difficult __t__o believe that he was now forever stilled, or that, having seen the declining condition of his life over the last year, Ella had been glad when Sally had told her that the doctor said there was no hope. __Glad for his sake, because Geoffrey had suffered so. Glad for Sally's sake, because it was cruel to shackle a young and beautiful woman to a man who could give her so little. _

_ And yes, glad for Wade's sake, that now he could have a chance with the woman he loved. _

_ But just for a moment, she allowed herself to grieve for all that Geoffrey could have been, all that was now lost forever._

_ After a long moment, she entered the house. Though it was very early, Mama and Uncle Rhett were in the breakfast room. Ella often teased them about how unfashionable they were; not only did they spend as much time as possible together, but they held hands and kissed so often that Justin had remarked upon it to her. She had told him that he was free to bring the issue of the decorum of their behavior up if he wished to, but she was delighted to see her Mama happy and would not dream of criticizing. She thought Justin had decided not to as well, for Uncle Rhett would have set him down smartly if he had. _

_ So it didn't surprise her to find them together. She went to the littlest dining room in __her__ formal house, and Mama rose to meet her. A lifted brow from Scarlett, a nod from Ella, and all that needed to be communicated was sent and received. _

_ Uncle Rhett, however, was not privy to the private __transmissions of women. "It's done, then?" he asked, rising to his feet._

_ "Yes," Ella said. "Sally's parents took her home with them; she'll stay with them until after the funeral."_

_ "Ah," Uncle Rhett said. To Ella's surprise, he looked ill-at-ease. "I – um – I think I need to go out for an early morning ride," he said, causing the two women to exchange puzzled looks. Then Ella understood, and her expression cleared. _

_ "You need not, Uncle Rhett," she said, seating herself at the head of the table and gesturing for the footman to pour her a cup of tea. "I already __attended to the matter__."_

_ "__And what matter would that be?" he asked._

_ She met his eyes, and smiled her most demurely innocent smile. "I stopped at Paddington Station and sent a telegram to Wade," she said sweetly. "He won't be able to attend the funeral, but he will probably want to come and pay his respects to the widow as soon as possible, don't you think?"_

_ "Um – yes, yes I suppose I do," he agreed. _

_ "So it seemed as if the best thing to do would be to get him the information as quickly as possible so that he can decide on the best course of action. After all, you gentlemen are so much smarter than we ladies; I wouldn't presume to know what Wade might think or do." _

_ "No," Uncle Rhett said, smiling ruefully at her. "Of course you wouldn't."_

* * *

**I thought it only fair that Geoffrey get a moment of recognition, since I killed him off cruelly for my own purposes. And even though he came up with a very bad idea as far as getting a baby for Sally, one should keep in mind that he was trying to provide something good for his wife to love, not to treat her shabbily (although he did!).**

**Please review and let me know how you like it. And thank the reviewer that came up with the idea of the twins trying to sneak some plum pudding; it worked out really well! Thank you all so much for reading!**


	8. Rhett's Advice

**Rhett's Advice**

* * *

Scarlett studied Wade, her eyes narrowed a little. "So you intend to stay here to court Sally."

Wade nodded. "Yes. I – I don't know how successful I'll be, but I have to try, Mother. I love her, in spite of all the time I spent trying to convince myself that I don't. So I must try."

Scarlett nodded, and reached out a hand to touch his cheek. The tenderness of her gesture surprised Wade, for she rarely gave physical demonstrations of affection. To Scarlett, one showed love by doing.

"I wish you the best of luck, of course," she said. "Would you do one thing for me before we sail home?"

"What's that?" he asked.

"Would you take Rhett out to dinner at one of the many absurdly formal gentleman's clubs in London, and talk to him about your plans?" She smiled at him, a bit mischievously. "After all, if there's anyone who can give you advice on the courting of a new widow, it's Rhett. Did you know that he proposed to me on the day of Frank's funeral?"

"Did he really?" Wade shook his head, unable to doubt his mother's tale. The rules that constrained other people never held Uncle Rhett back from doing what he pleased. "It can't hurt to listen to what he says, anyway; even if I decide not to take his advice, I shall have had an excellent meal out of it."

"Oh, is that what men go to their clubs for?" Scarlett asked, her brows lifting. "Well, fancy that."

* * *

Rhett sipped his after-dinner brandy, studying Wade over the top of his snifter. "You're mother didn't send us here so I could give you courtship advice."

Wade smiled at his stepfather.

"No, I didn't really suppose that was the reason," he replied.

"I think – although one can never be certain with your mother – that she wanted me to make you aware of a couple of facts, and one opinion." Rhett smiled. "And then, just to be contrary, I do have a piece of advice."

Wade laughed. The warmth of the brandy lent a gentle glow to the formal room, with its openly masculine decor.

"I'm ready – I think!"

"First, the facts." Rhett took out a cigar; after offering one to Wade, who refused, he lit it and watched as the aromatic smoke rose in lazy curls. "You're mother and I do not have plans to return this fall to England, as we have for the past couple of years."

Wade looked surprised. "Why not? Is something wrong at home?"

"No. On the contrary, it is our hope that at some point – probably in mid-August – your mother will be presenting us with an addition to the family. Traveling with an infant would be unwise, not to mention the consideration of your mother's health."

Wade looked surprised, then happy. "I hadn't thought about the possibility of a new baby," he said. "Congratulations, Uncle Rhett! Maybe you should give me one of those cigars, after all!"

"That's after the baby is born," Rhett said, but he nevertheless handed over the cigar.

"I assume you've had the doctor check mother? There's no reason she can't successfully give birth?" Wade asked, hesitantly.

"Oh, yes. Your mother went to a doctor before we married, to make sure that everything was good. There's no reason – barring complications that are unknowable in advance – why she shouldn't be fine."

Wade could tell that Rhett was worried, anyway, but he thought it likely that Rhett would never be able to see the slightest danger for Scarlett without deep concern. Wade had never seen a couple more in love, or more attuned, then his mother and stepfather.

"It wasn't an accident, you know," Wade said abruptly.

Rhett raised an eyebrow. "What wasn't an accident?"

"Our meeting in Savannah," Wade said. "Oh, the particular moment was. I couldn't have relied upon meeting you on the street, or upon you recognizing me if you did. It had been over ten years, after all. But I knew that you were in Savannah, and I intended to approach you while you were there."

Rhett looked surprised. "And why was that?" he asked.

"Well, because of my mother, of course," Wade said. "She was lonely. The kind of loneliness that isn't cured by having children that love you, or friends, or family." Wade hesitated. "The kind of lonely that wasn't even cured by Uncle Tony, to be honest."

Rhett looked at Wade, his eyes intent. "Do you think she loved him? Really loved him?"

Wade could see that his answer mattered immensely, so he phrase it carefully. "She cared for him a great deal," he said. "But sometimes, I would see her sitting somewhere, and there would be an expression on her face, a yearning, and it wasn't for him. Sometimes he would be right there with her, but he wasn't what she was wanting, or thinking of. I don't see that anymore, not since she's with you. So I would have to say, that she loved him, but not the way she loves you. He was good to her, even good for her, but you're the one who completes her."

Rhett nodded. "Thank you, Wade. Coming from you, that matters a great deal."

"Now, didn't you have some advice for me?"

"I do, but first the opinion, the one I share with your mother."

"And that is?"

"I don't know, nor do I have any interest in knowing, how Sally conceived her child," Rhett said. The brutal honesty of his words caused Wade to stiffen, but he continued to listen in silence. "What I do think, however, is that it would be a serious mistake for you to marry her without knowing. It's the kind of thing that eats away at a man. When you know the truth, you can decide if you can live with it. If you don't _know_, then the truth could be any of a thousand scenarios that torment you. Such things can cause a man – even a loving man – to treat a woman very badly. I'd hate to see that happen to you, Wade; I'm not certain what would be left of you, afterward."

Wade nodded, just once, but that was all the acknowledgment he gave. He would not discuss this, even with Rhett; it was too private.

"And the advice?"

"Ah, yes" Rhett said. "It has to do with your girl, and London society in general."

Wade took a drink of his brandy. "I'm listening."

"As far as London society is concerned, you don't amount to much," Rhett said bluntly. "You're an American, which puts you beneath even the lowest of the gentry, on their social scale."

Wade rolled his eyes. "Uncle Rhett, I don't care about any of that -"

"You may not," Rhett said. "But it's what Mrs Jennings has been raised to believe is the right and proper way for things to be. Now, I've seen enough of her to know that she isn't as glued to her ideas of propriety as some women are, which I think is a good thing; she'd never consider marrying an American, otherwise. But since she's a recent widow, the next few months is going to see proper behavior take a stranglehold on her life, unless you find a way to prevent it."

Wade thought about what Rhett was saying, and nodded. "I can see your point," he admitted. "Sally's mother is already squawking about me calling her by her first name, and visiting too often."

"And that's another thing. If you give her mother a few months, she'll have Mrs Jennings living in her house again. Next thing you know, she will get rid of the companion – what's her name? the one with a face like a pug – and have Mrs Jennings fetching and carrying for her. She'll say what a comfort it is, to have her daughter and grandson with her, but in reality, it will be her own comfort she's thinking of, not having to pay a servant!"

"I can actually see that happening," Wade admitted. "Sally can't, because she has such a generous nature, but her mother is like some old spider, spinning webs and not caring who gets hurt."

"So it would be in her best interests to get Mrs Jennings away from her," Rhett said.

"Yes, but how? I can't just throw her over my saddle and ride off with her!"

"No, but you could invite her to visit America with us," Rhett said.

Wade looked stunned. "I – I never thought of that."

"It would have to be done soon. We're leaving in three weeks. There's plenty of room in our suite for her; we'd just need to make Lanie and Katie share a room, which you know they prefer, anyway. The nursemaids could help take care of the baby; you already have a separate room booked, and that would give you two weeks at sea to turn the lady's attention in your direction. A winning situation, any way you look at it."

"Assuming I can get Sally to agree to go," Wade said.

"Well, that might be a problem," Rhett admitted. "But perhaps not as much as you think."

"What do you mean?"

"Just because she's soft-hearted, doesn't mean she's soft-headed. If you can show her how bad it would be for the boy to grow up around his grandmother, she might be willing to be more adventurous – to help her son."

"Hmm," Wade said, rubbing his chin. "Perhaps I can think of something."

* * *

Sally leaned her head back against the wooden post of the gazebo in her back garden. Geoffrey had built this for her, the year after they married, so that she would have a place to sit and look out over the garden she loved so. Today, as the blustery February wind blew the chill from the Thames across London, the main advantage to the unsheltered gazebo was that her mother was unlikely to seek it out.

Sally knew she needed to decide what to do. Her mother wanted Sally and William to go and live with her, but Sally disliked the idea. Her mother's ways of doing things were so different from Sally's ways, the ways in which she wanted to raise her son. But if she went to live with Mama -

"Sally?"

She straightened quickly, hoping he hadn't seen how weak and pitiful she looked. For some reason, she always wanted to seem strong and in control around Wade, in spite of the fact that he had seen her at her very worse and seemed to like her anyway. She valued his friendship. "Yes, Wade?"

She turned, and he smiled down at her. "It's cold out here," he said, removing his heavier jacket and laying it across her shoulders. Coming from him, the action seemed so normal, completely unremarkable, yet she knew dozens of men who would never even have considered it.

"Yes. I come out here when I want to think," she admitted.

"So what are you thinking about today?" he asked, and the warmth of his brown eyes encouraged her to admit the truth.

"Mama. She wants me to come and live in the house with her, Wade, and I – I just am not certain that's something I want to do. I'm afraid that once there, I would find it difficult to leave if I wasn't happy, and I think that Mama might very well think that she should be the one to make decisions about Will. Decisions that it is my place, as his mother, to make." She lifted her chin, trying to sound braver than she felt, which was not hard.

"It seems I've come in the nick of time, then," he said, and she noticed the odd intensity with which he watched her.

"In the nick of time? Whatever do you mean?"

"With an invitation," he said lightly. "My mother and stepfather have invited you to come with us to Georgia, to stay at least through the spring. If you agreed to come, you would have plenty of time to think about how you want to raise William, and with whom. So what do you say, Sally? Would you like to go see my boyhood home with me, meet my cousins, and bask in a warmer climate? Spring at Pine Bloom is much more reliable than spring in England, I promise."

Sally hesitated. "Your mother -" she began. "Is she really willing to have us? Wouldn't we be a lot of trouble?"

"No. My mother has recently discovered that she is in the family way again, and I'm very sure that she would welcome the presence of a delicately nurtured, but – um – experienced lady to help her through the discomforts involved."

Sally looked up at him. "Oh yes, I can see how that would be so," she agreed, eagerly. "Yes, Wade, I would be happy to visit America for a few months, and thank you so much for asking!"

"Oh, it was my pleasure," he assured her, smiling down into her green eyes.

* * *

**So Wade's girl is going to come to America. Just to get her away from her Mama, of course! That's a good sign for Wade, as is the fact that Sally seems to think want him to think well of her.  
**

**And Scarlett is going to have another baby! I think Rhett will be a better father this time, and I can just picture the twins with a little brother or sister. And Wade, of course, will be the strong and protective big brother.**

**Thank you for reading. Please review and let me know what you think!**


	9. On Board Ship

**On Board Ship**

* * *

"It's funny, how it always looks like it's going away from us, when really, it's the ship that's moving," Katie said, watching as the coastline of England rapidly shrank in the distance. She and Wade stood alone at the ship's railing; the other members of their party had already gone to their suite.

"That's true," Wade said. "It's what one of my old professors used to call an 'optical illusion.' The way the moon seems to follow you around is another."

"I've seen that," Katie said, taking his hand as they turned to walk along the deck. "Wade..."

"Yes?" he asked, looking down at her.

"Are you going to marry Mrs Jennings?"

The question took him by surprise. Thinking about it, he knew that he shouldn't have been startled; the twins, and Katie particularly, always seemed to pick up on the emotional currents around them.

"Would you mind if I did?" he asked cautiously. He remembered how upset she had been when Mama told the girls that she was going to marry Rhett.

"No, I don't think so. She seems nice, and I like William. If you married his Mama, he would be my nephew, wouldn't he?"

"Yes, he would," Wade affirmed.

Katie giggled. "I would be Aunt Katie. That's funny," she said. Then she sobered. "Do you know the secret, Wade?"

"What secret is that?"

"Bend down and I'll tell you," she said. He complied, and she cupped a hand around his ear to whisper, "Mama is going to have a baby, too. Did you know?"

"Yes, I knew," he told her as they turned into the passageway that lead to the suite she and her sister would share with Mama, Uncle Rhett, Sally and the baby. "I didn't think Mama was planning to tell you and Lanie for another few months, in case things didn't go well. So how did you find out?"

"Lanie found out," Katie said. "She heard Mama and Cap'n Rhett talking. Do you think this new baby will stop him from feeling bad about Bonnie?"

"I don't think one person ever replaces another," he told her. "Just like I love you, and I love Lanie; there's room for both. Uncle Rhett will always miss Bonnie, but he will love a new baby, too."

"Will he still love me and Lanie, if there's a new baby?" Katie asked.

"Of course he will, darling. Why wouldn't he?"

"'Cause we had a different Daddy," Katie whispered. Her eyes filled with tears. "Mama told me the other day that my eyes were just like my Daddy's. Cap'n Rhett heard her, and he didn't like it, Wade, he didn't like it one little bit. So maybe when they have their own baby, they won't want us around anymore, to remind Mama of our Daddy."

"Oh, Katie." Wade scooped her up in his arms and held her while she cried. "That's not true, baby. Mama and Uncle Rhett do love you – both of them do. Even when the new baby comes, there will be room for you and Lanie."

She sniffed and looked up at him. He handed her a handkerchief, and she wiped her eyes. "That's why I wondered if you and Mrs Jennings were going to get married. Then, if Mama didn't want us anymore, we could come and live with you and William could be our little brother, 'stead of our nephew. I like him, but I would miss Mama." Her voice wobbled a little as she said the last words.

Wade made a tsking sound. "Katie, darling, that just isn't going to happen. Mama loves you, and so does Uncle Rhett. They'll keep on loving you, even if they have a dozen new babies. Just like I would keep on loving you if I married Sally, and raised William, and had my own children. Katie, love grows in people. They never run out of room for more!"

"You promise?" she said, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"I promise," he told her, kissing her salty cheek. "Now, let's go find everyone else, 'cause I bet they could use your help to keep William entertained while Mama and Sally get everything settled." Gently, he set her on her feet and took hold of her hand again.

"I bet they could too," Katie said. "'Cause William likes me. He always smiles and reaches up his hands when he sees me."

"I know. He loves to have you and Lanie to play with," Wade agreed.

"We like him a lot, too," Katie said. She skipped a little as they walked down the hallway, and Wade marveled, not for the first time, at the resiliency of youth.

* * *

In the past decade, huge advances had taken place in the level of comfort available on transatlantic voyages. Over dinner, Rhett entertained them with the story of his first sea voyage.

"I was headed for the California gold fields," he said, smiling at Katie and Lanie especially. Since it was the first night out to sea, they got to stay up and have dinner with the grown-ups. "I took a ship to Columbia, where we had to get out and walk thirty miles through the jungle to the Pacific side, and then board a ship that would take us on to California."

"Where you searching for gold, Cap'n Rhett?" Lanie asked.

"Indeed I was, Miss Melanie Scarlett Fontaine, indeed I was. But not in the gold fields; standing in icy-cold water up to my knees day after day, panning for gold, was too much work for me, even in those days. No, I was searching for gold in the pockets of other men. I had that in common with your father, lovie; for a while, we both earned our living as gamblers. We both had the good sense to get into a steadier line of work as soon as we could, too, for there's no surer way to rouse hatred and jealousy than to win steadily at games of chance."

"Mama says when Daddy could, he stopped gambling and became a businessman instead," Lanie said, and looked confused when the others laughed.

"And a very sensible decision that was," Rhett agreed. "There are those who would tell you that the two things have a good deal in common, though. A good businessman, like a good gambler, has to know how to read an opponent's face, and tell what he is going to do from the way he acts. And in both cases, guessing wrong can cost a man a lot of money." He winked at Katie. "I've heard tell that your father was very good at that, so he _made_ a lot of money, instead."

"Did you ever meet our daddy, Cap'n Rhett?" Lanie asked curiously.

"Once. Well, make that twice. I met him very briefly the very first time I ever saw your beautiful mother... at the barbecue at Twelve Oaks, the day they got the news that the war started. And once, when he was on leave from the army. That would have been the Christmas of 1863, I think. Long before you two were born."

"Did you like him?"

Rhett looked uncomfortable. "Lanie, darling," he said, "your father was much younger than I was. There was probably as much difference in age between us as there is between you and Wade, and I never spent any time with your father, so -"

"If he had spent time with him, he wouldn't have liked him, though," Katie said, her face flushed with sudden anger. "He wouldn't have liked him, because our Daddy loved our Mama, and Cap'n Rhett wouldn't like anyone who loved Mama!"

The vehemence of her words took everyone but Wade by surprise, and Katie completed everyone's amazement by putting her napkin down and saying, "Mama, I don't feel well. May I be excused?"

They had been waiting for dessert, and for either of the twins to leave the table before the last crumb of cake or pie was served was unheard of. Scarlett reached out and pressed her hand to the child's flushed face. "Katie, you have a fever," she said, rising to her feet. "Come child, I'll walk you back to your room and sponge you off before bed."

"Thank you, Mama," Katie said; taking her mother's hand she left without so much as a backward glance at the rest of them.

"What was that all about?" Rhett asked.

"Uhm – Katie and I had a discussion this afternoon that probably ties into this," Wade said uneasily. "I had intended to tell you and Mama about it, but we haven't had a private moment since it happened... it seems that Katie has decided that you and Mama won't want her and Lanie anymore, once you have your own baby. She was trying to talk me into marrying Sally, so that she and Lanie could come and live with us, and have William for a brother." Wade smiled at Sally, who blushed.

"That's silly," Lanie said, looking up at Rhett. "Mama and Cap'n Rhett will always want us. They _love_ us."

"Of course we do," Rhett agreed. "Wade, what put this idea into Katie's head, do you know? And how did they even find out about the new baby – we haven't told them yet?"

"Seems Miss Lanie here has been eavesdropping," Wade said, giving Lanie a reproving look. "And the rest comes from Katie's imagination, I think. Oh, and something about you not liking it when Mama said her eyes were just like Uncle Tony's?"

"I remember her mother saying that, but I wasn't aware that Katie knew I didn't care for it," Rhett said, looking uncomfortable.

"Oh, Katie sees everything," Wade told him. "I thought I had talked her out of it, but evidently not. Perhaps you need to explain to her that you and Mama will still love her and Lanie, even after the new baby comes."

Rhett nodded. "Maybe I should," he said. "I don't want Katie worrying about it, that's for sure."

"It might help if you make a special effort, during the time when her mother is expecting, to include the girls in the plans for the new baby," Sally said. Her gentle voice was unexpected, but not unwelcome. "I know that there are many things that you can't but some little things... what color the nursery should be painted, for instance; the girls could be consulted on that. And they are both old enough to help decorate, perhaps to help select the crib, things like that. My sister said it helped her, several years ago, when her second child was born."

"That's a good idea," Rhett said. "I think it would help if Scarlett and I spent some extra time with the girls over the next few months, too. We could go riding, or on picnics -"

"I like picnics," Lanie said, and the adults laughed.

"You like anything that involves food," Wade teased her. Lanie stuck her tongue out at him. "Careful, it'll get stuck like that!"

"Speaking of food," Lanie said. "Since Katie isn't feeling well, can I have her dessert?"

* * *

Scarlett led Katie into the small but elegant bedroom she was sharing with Lanie. "Let's get you washed up and ready for bed," Scarlett said, keeping her voice low and soothing. "Are you angry because you're feeling bad, or is there more to it?"

"More," Katie said, leaning her head against her mother's arm. "But I really do feel poorly. Mama, are you going to have another baby?"

"Yes, I am, darling. How did you find out about that?" Scarlett released the last of the buttons on Katie's dress.

"Lanie heard," Katie said. "Will you still want us – Lanie and me – once the new baby comes?"

"Of course I will, darling," Scarlett said, smoothly lifting the dress over Katie's head, leaving the little girl clad in her chemise. "I will always want you and Lanie, no matter how many other children I might have. In fact, I'm relying on you to help me with the new baby; Sally has been telling me how good you are with William, and I will need so much help with the new baby."

Scarlett poured cool water from the ewer into the basin and dipped a soft cloth into it. She began to sponge off her daughter's feverish face, then worked down her neck to dampen her shoulders. "Ooh, that's cold," Katie complained. "What kind of help will you need with the baby, Mama?"

"Well, first, there are lots of things to do before the baby comes," Scarlett said. "Lie down, darling, and let me take your shoes off. For instance, we have to get a room ready for the baby. We have to decide what room it should be, then figure out what color to paint it. I thought we could ask your cousin Beau to make the crib, since he's always been good at things like that, but we need to decide what style we want. Then there are clothes to get ready; babies need lots of clothes, they're so untidy. Really, sometimes one wonders why anyone would bother to even have a baby..." She loosened the laces on the shoes and dropped them to the floor before pulling off the socks.

"You'll still love us?" Katie asked sleepily.

Her mother bent and kissed her gently. "I promise, Katie. No matter what, I'll always love you and your sister."

* * *

**Katie is the sensitive one, and she isn't sure if she'll still be loved after the new baby comes. **

**Seems like Scarlett and Rhett have some work to do there!**

**Please leave a review if yo liked it(or didn't). I love to hear from you!**


	10. Conversations

**Conversations**

* * *

It was not yet daylight when Rhett slipped quietly through the dark hallway, and let himself into Katie's room. Gently, he shook her by the shoulder; when she only mumbled and then went still again, he shook her a second time, harder. "Katie, wake up," he whispered.

She sat up quickly, her dark eyes opening wide when she saw him. "Cap'n Rhett! Is something wrong?"

"No. Put on your wrapper and come downstairs with me."

Looking sleepy and confused, she did as he bid her. He led her out to the front porch, where the sky in the east was just now beginning to lighten with the dawn. They sat on two of the padded wicker chairs that Scarlett had placed there, along with several small tables, and Rhett indicated a cup and a covered plate. "Those are for you," he said. Katie lifted the cup, and the smell of hot chocolate filled the air. She sipped carefully at the still-steaming liquid.

"Mmm, that's good," she said. Lifting the cover off the plate, she saw a sticky bun, one of the good kind that Dilcey made, with raisins, and frosting. "But Dilcey only makes these for special occasions," Katie said, sounding bewildered.

"I asked her to make them," Rhett said, and Katie nodded. Dilcey liked Rhett; she would have done almost anything he asked.

"Why?"

"Because we need to talk, you and I," he said. "And there never seems to be a time or place for it, in an ordinary day; someone's always around. So I figured we could sit out here and watch the sun rise, and talk."

Katie took a piece of the roll, tearing a bite sized bit off and then eating it slowly. Then she nodded. "Okay," she said. "I'm ready to hear."

"Wade says that you are more observant than your sister," Rhett said. "I don't know you as well as he does, but from what I've seen so far, he's right. You see _everything._"

"Lot's of times I notice things that Lanie doesn't." Katie said. "Sometimes even things that Mama doesn't."

Rhett nodded. "I believe that," he said. "But you're still a little girl. So sometimes you don't know the meaning of what you see. Do you know what I'm saying?"

Katie shook her head solemnly.

"It's like... have you ever seen a mama bird push the baby birds out of the nest?"

"Yeeesssss," she said, drawing out the word as if to emphasize that she didn't see the relevance.

"Well, if you just saw that, you might think she was being mean, and trying to hurt the babies. But really, she's trying to help the babies, because she knows that they can fly, even when they don't know it yet. Once you know that, it changes what you think about the meaning of what the mama bird is doing. Do you see that?"

"I guess so," she said.

"And the same thing is true, when you saw that I didn't like it when your Mama talked about how you look like your father. You saw that, but you don't know why."

"Will you tell me why, then? Did you hate Daddy, Cap'n Rhett?"

"No, darling. I only ever saw your daddy twice in my whole life, and for the life of me I don't remember a single thing that we said to each other. I thought of him as a boy, which he was then. But he didn't stay a boy; he grew up, and became a man who I would have liked a lot. How do I know this? I know because your Mama loved him. Wade loved him. Ella loved him. You and Lanie loved him. And a man doesn't get to be loved by such a fine family without being a really good man, indeed, so I'm sure he was."

Katie's lip quivered. "Sometimes I can hardly remember him," she admitted.

"That's all right, though. Because your Mama has all kinds of stories she can tell you about him, and so do Wade and Ella. They'll help you to keep your memories of him."

Katie nodded. "So why did you not like it when Mama said I have his eyes?"

Rhett smiled. "Because, strangely enough, you and Lanie have eyes that are the same color as mine, too. And I like to think that makes you a little bit mine – just a little, but some. Is that ok?"

Katie took a drink of hot chocolate while she considered the matter. Then she smiled at him, a mustache of milk and chocolate coating her upper lip. "Just a little bit," she told him, holding her thumb and first finger an inch apart.

* * *

Wade stopped his horse and dismounted, waiting for Sally to come up beside him. She was laughing, her face flushed in the cool morning air. This was the first time he had persuaded her to come for a long ride with him; normally, she refused to leave William with the nursemaid for more than a few minutes. Partly, that resulted from a belief that a child should be raised by its parents, not the servants, and Wade always felt pleased and proud when he thought about that. Sally was a wonderful mother to William, and he repaid the attention by being an almost angelic child – sweet-tempered and placid, always laughing and ready to play.

Wade suspected, however, that another part of her reluctance sprang from a desire not to be beholden to them – most specifically, to him. He could understand it; he could even admire it, but he didn't like it, and he was hoping today to find a way around it.

He helped Sally down from her horse, careful not to let his hands linger at her waist longer than propriety allowed. Not that he didn't want to touch her, but he knew that once he did, stopping might be a problem. He found that spending time with Sally only deepened his feelings for her, but before he could allow himself to relax and let the relationship develop, he needed to ask her about William. Uncle Rhett was right about that; he wouldn't be able to live with not knowing.

Taking a deep breath, he said, "Sally, I think you and I need to talk."

"All right," she said. Wade led her to a fallen tree where they could sit, close enough to the river that they could her the silvery sound of the current and watch the gleam of the sunlight on the water. It was April, and the world was stirring to life again.

"I'm struggling to find words," Wade said after a long moment of silence. Sally nodded, and bent forward so that she was looking at the ground. Then she turned and met his gaze with hers, and he saw determination and courage in her green eyes.

"You want to know about William, don't you?" she asked softly. "Because – because of that time that I came to your mother's house in London."

"Yes," he answered. "I – Sally, I need to know how you came to have William. I don't think there's anything you can tell me that would change how I feel about you, but I have to know."

"This is all because I'm such a coward," she said. "If I had been brave enough to just tell Geoffrey 'no, absolutely not,' when he first came to me with the idea that I should have a baby with someone else, if I had threatened to leave him, or to kill myself... but I didn't, so we find ourselves having to have this miserable conversation about a horrible subject that I would be glad to never mention again."

"Sally," he said, moved in spite of himself by the tears that ran down her face; he put a hand on her shoulder but she pushed it away.

"Don't!" she said. "Don't touch me, Wade. Sometimes I think that I can never bear to be touched again." She drew a deep, shuddering breath, and forced herself to look at him, to meet his eyes squarely. "I'll tell you," she said. "But after this, I'll never talk about it again. No matter what."

"All right," he said softly. He wished he could spare her this, but the only alternative was to let her go completely, and he loved her. He wanted a life with her, and he thought she wanted the same with him, but he knew that she would never find happiness – not with him or anyone else – until she faced what had happened.

"You know, Geoffrey thought that he was doing me a favor, finding a way for me to have a baby," she said. "He knew that I wanted one, and he never considered that the end might not justify the means. I think that he was unbalanced, Wade, I really do. So when you spoke to him – when you refused to do what he wanted – he decided on another tactic. Something even worse."

"Worse?" Wade said. He tried to make his voice gentle and non-threatening, but some of his tension must have been audible in his tone, for her hands clenched together until the knuckles were white. "What did he do, Sally?"

"He found someone who didn't have your scruples," she said, refusing to meet his eyes. "And – and then he drugged me. He put laudanum in the glass of wine I had with my dinner. The fact of the matter is, I don't remember anything about how I... conceived; I wasn't awake for the event." A shudder went through her. "I didn't even know it had happened until months later, when I began showing signs of – of pregnancy. Then he told me. Casually, as though it were no big deal. And when I was upset, he acted as if I were insulting him by not being grateful that he had thought of a way around my – my silly scruples, as he put it."

"I should have taken you away," Wade said tightly. "When you told me of his first plan. But after I talked to him, I thought that he saw how wrong it was, to treat a woman as if she were an object. Sally, I'm sorry; I should have found a way to protect you -"

"It wasn't your fault, Wade," she said, turning to him and taking his hands. "You couldn't have known what Geoffrey would do. As I said, I think he was unbalanced, really I do. No one who was normal could have thought that what he did was acceptable – and he did, Wade, truly he did. When I continued to be angry with him, he -" she broke off.

"What did he do?"

"That's when he stopped taking care of himself, or letting the servants do it," she said. "Before that, he always did just what the doctor said – he was even a little fanatical about exercising, and keeping himself clean. After that, though, during the time when I was pregnant, and hating him so bad that sometimes days would go by that I wouldn't speak to him, or even look at him... it was as if all the spark went out of him, and he stopped caring."

"Good," Wade said, and Sally smiled faintly.

"That's what I thought," she agreed. "I thought if he would just die, everything would be all right again. I wouldn't have to see him, or feel the weight of the hatred I felt for him. It changed me, Wade. The way I came to feel about him changed me, and not in a good way. It made me mean. Vicious, even. Or maybe that was always in me, and I just didn't know it."

She stared out at the water for a long moment.

"At first, I didn't even want William," she said, her voice so low that he had to strain to hear her.

He took her hands, holding them firmly in his. "How could you?" he asked. "A child forced on you in such a way -"

"I think that's what caused Geoffrey to give up," she said. "When he saw that he had done it all for nothing. When William was born, and I – I still didn't love him. All through the pregnancy, when I would see Geoffrey, whenever he _forced_ himself into my company, he would tell me that it would be all right. That when the baby came, and I loved it, it would make everything worthwhile. And when William was born, I didn't love him; that's the plain truth. I didn't love him, I didn't care for him at all. It's as if I were numb, inside. The wet-nurse took him, and cared for him, and I hardly ever saw him. I didn't want to see him. And then Geoffrey got sick."

She looked at Wade, her eyes filled with despair.

"He got sick, and I made a bargain with God. I told him – promised – that if he would take Geoffrey away, I would learn to love William. I would make myself love him. I would be the best mother ever. And Geoffrey died, and it was as if the floodgates inside of me opened up. I realized that I could love my son. I did love him. But even that is tainted for me, tainted by what happened, and the anger and hatred I let myself be filled with... Oh, Wade, I never knew I was such an evil person, and now I don't know how to live with it."

She leaned her head against his shoulder and he held her as she cried, and wondered if he had been wrong.

Maybe not knowing would have been better.

* * *

**The second half of this chapter turned out to be a lot darker than I expected. Not that I expected it to be all roses and rainbows, just not so revealing of the worst aspects of both Sally and her late husband. And the sad thing is, I still feel kind of sorry for him. Like Scarlett in GWTW, he did terrible things, but once you understand why, it's hard to hate him. Unless you're the person he did them to... I understand Sally's point of view, too. One of the dangers of being the writer, I guess.  
**

**As for the first part, well, Rhett proves he still knows how to charm the ladies. Hot chocolate and sticky buns (with raisins)... I can totally see that.**

**Thanks for reading. Please review, if you feel so inclined; I love every one!**


	11. Sally's Choice

**Sally's Choice**

* * *

Sally sat on the swing under the live oak, watching as William played on the porch with the twins. He crawled easily now, though Scarlett told her that he was a bit precocious in this regard; neither of the twins could crawl at seven months. Sally felt a surge of pride as she watched him play peek-a-boo with Katie. His huge grin and consistent good temper made him a favorite in the household; even Rhett and Wade enjoyed his company, and Sally had always been taught that gentlemen cared very little for babies until they were old enough to talk sensibly.

"Eww, it's hot out today," Scarlett said, plopping herself down in the wide swing beside Sally and giving her a quick, tired smile. "And it's only May. I am not looking forward to summer, I can tell you. Being pregnant is bad enough on its own, but pregnant through a Georgia summer is a special kind of hell."

"I was lucky, I suppose. Last summer, when I was pregnant with William, was a mild year. And of course, he wasn't born until the first week in October, so I wasn't as heavy as you'll be."

"The twins were born in September. Of course, they were born in England, too, so I guess I can't complain."

"Yes, I remember," Sally said. "That was the year I met Ella and we became friends, so I was at your house a lot. I thought it was so wonderful that she was getting a new baby brother or sister, and I was soo jealous when it turned out to be not just one, but two, sisters." Sally laughed, and Scarlett glanced at her; Sally had become a woman who laughed rarely.

"Tell me," Scarlett said in a conversational tone, "do you intend to marry my son?"

Sally hesitated. "He – hasn't asked me."

"Don't quibble, girl! He will, if you give him sufficient encouragement. The question is, are you going to? Or have you decided to go back to England and your life there?"

Sally swallowed. "Wade is a fine young man," she said. "Setting aside for the moment the issue of whether he wishes to marry me, I – I must admit to having doubts about whether it would be the right thing to do."

"So the question is whether you love him?" Scarlett asked, and Sally had difficulty meeting those green eyes, that were so like her own.

"No! No, Wade is the best person I know. He's a wonderful man, worthy of being loved by a woman who is pure and good. I'm just not sure that woman is me."

Scarlett nodded. "You know, it's not my place to interfere," she said, then smiled. "Which I suppose is the opening statement that interfering mother-in-laws always make. What I'm trying to say, though, is that I'm a good bit older than you are, and a woman of the world in a way that most of the women you know aren't. I've had four husbands, one of whom divorced and then remarried me, and I've lived through a peck of unhappiness, a great deal of which was my own fault. If you'd like to confide in me, I'd be happy to offer any insight I could bring to the situation. Wade's happiness is important to me."

She waited a moment, but Sally didn't reply, and would not meet her eyes. Scarlett sighed.

"I don't suppose I would have confided in my prospective mother-in-law, either," she said, stretching a little with a hand at the curve of her back. "But just because I _am _Wade's mother, and I truly do have his best interests at heart, I'm going to offer some advice anyway. If you don't love him, don't allow sympathy or affection to persuade you to marry him. A marriage where only one person loves is doomed to misery and heartache for both parties, and you would be doing Wade no favors. Better to hurt him cleanly now, and let him go on to find someone else who will care for him. On the other hand, if you do love him..." Scarlett smiled. "If you do love him, you should fight for it. Because there's nothing better than a marriage where both people love each other. I should know."

"Yes, you and Captain Butler do seem to get along very well together," Sally said. "I can tell from the way he acts towards you the he loves you. Or at least, I think I can. I used to be much more certain of things like that. I used to believe that all husbands and wives loved... or at least liked each other. But now I know better."

"Did you not love your husband?" Scarlett asked, her tone mildly interested.

"Love him? I hated him. When he died, I was happy," Sally said, her eyes flashing. "And that's why I'm not sure that I should marry Wade. Because no matter how badly Geoffrey treated me, I shouldn't hate like that. I should be a better person, a stronger person, and I am not."

Scarlett looked at Sally as if studying her. "It does say in the bible that one should forgive one's enemies," she said. "I've come to the conclusion that forgiveness is not required for the sake of mercy to the enemy, however; forgiveness is required as mercy to ourselves. As an example, the way you feel about your late husband doesn't hurt him at all; he's beyond your reach. You, on the other hand, are carrying around a heavy load of anger, and it's killing you just as much as any disease would. You need to find a way to put it down, girl, before it leads you into saying – or doing – things that can't be taken back."

Scarlett rose to her feet and stood, looking down at Sally, rubbing her back again as she did.

"And I think you're right, about not marrying Wade until you figure out how to do that. Not because you're not worthy in truth, but because until you know your own value, you won't have any high standards to live up to, and you'll drag anyone who loves you down with you. That, sadly, includes your son, who can't help what his father did to his mother."

With that, Scarlett turned and walked past the children, who still played happily on the porch. "Another few minutes," she told Lanie. "Then it will be time for lunch, and William's nap."

* * *

Rhett looked out the open French doors as Wade played games on the lawn with his sisters and baby William. Sally sat on the porch, neatly darning socks, a task that Scarlett had always loathed. The scene looked very domestic, even tranquil, if one did not notice that the two adults rarely spoke, or even glanced at each other.

"Sadly familiar," he said to Scarlett, and she sighed.

"Yes. But we can't help them with it, even more than anyone could help us. They have to find their own path."

"Yes, but I remember the pain that distance brought to me – to us. I wish there were something we could do."

"Sally actually reminds me a bit of me, when I was that age;" Scarlett said. "She has that same obstinate belief that she is right, although it's about a completely different subject. You remember how firmly I clung to the idea that I loved Ashley, when in the end he turned out to be completely horrible."

"Clearly. And by the time you were willing to let go of 'the estimable Mr Wilkes,' I had convinced myself that I didn't care anymore. I was wrong, but I was very tired of hurting."

"Well, we must hope that Sally learns her mistake faster than we did," Scarlett said, turning towards him. "Ooh!" She stopped and put a hand over her belly.

"What's wrong? Are you in pain?" Rhett asked; the alarm in his raised voice caused Wade to look over at them.

Scarlett smiled. "No. Just your son or daughter being a little more rambunctious than normal." Taking his hand, she placed it on her abdomen so that he could feel the strong movements. Seeing this, Wade relaxed and turned his attention back to the children.

He smiled. "Feels like she's going to be a ballerina," he commented, leaning his head down to hers.

"Or he's going to be a cowboy," she said.

He glanced at her. "You think it's a boy?"

Scarlett shrugged. "I'm not much worried either way; I'll settle for healthy. But I wouldn't be all that surprised if it were, to tell you the truth. Just a feeling."

* * *

Sally had been surprised to discover how little interest Scarlett or Captain Butler took in riding for pleasure, even before Scarlett had become pregnant. Coming from a rural family herself, Sallly had learned to ride at a very young age, and when she was at home on her father's country estate, most days began with a long ride. Her older brother had allowed her to learn to ride astride, and even now, that was her favorite, although a fashionable London lady would never be seen on any but a side-saddle. Often, Wade rode with her, and she had been pleased to discover that he shared her equestrian interests, but today his attention was taken by estate matters, so she rode alone by the river.

At first, she cantered along the riverbank, but gradually, she allowed Muffin (so named by Lanie) to slow to a walk and pick her way along the wide trail that paralleled the rushing water, allowing her rider plenty of time to think. So caught up was she in a whirl of chaotic thoughts that she didn't realize she wasn't alone until a voice surprised her from her reverie.

"What is that boy thinking of, to allow you out here alone, so far from home?" the acerbic voice scolded.. Sally looked up, startled; her horse shied, but Sally quickly brought the mare under control. Then she turned to face the person who had spoken.

"Hello, Miss Wilkes," she said.

"You're almost three miles from Pine Bloom," India said. She rode her horse well, but it was the ease of competence, not enjoyment. The thought crossed Sally's mind that to India, a horse was simply a way to get from one place to another; she neither admired nor liked the animals themselves. In her stables, horses would get exactly the correct ration of hay and mash, no more, and no less. And never any sugar cubes or carrots.

"Yes, I am aware," Sally said, struggling to be polite. Wade's cousin or no, this was not an easy woman to like, or relax around. "I intend to start back soon."

"Do you?" India asked sceptically. "Because it looked to me as if you were lost in thought, and intended to idle your way further from where you belong, until you were so far that you would not be able to return before dark, forcing someone to come looking for you. Most inconsiderate, but I suppose I would expect nothing better from a friend of Scarlett's, or that man to whom she is she is married. Again."

"Do you and Mrs Butler not get along?" Sally asked.

India glanced sideways at her. "You must not have heard much of the gossip here in Clayton County, not to know that, girl," she said. "I have been an enemy of Scarlett's since her last name was 'O'Hara,' before she married Wade's papa. Which was a goodly number of years ago. I wasted many a year hating Scarlett, years that I should have spent doing something useful with my life, instead. And in the end, it turned out that Scarlett wasn't really the person to blame for my troubles. She just made a convenient target, so that I didn't have to face reality."

"What did you and Mrs Butler quarrel about?" Sally asked, only mildly interested.

India snorted. "We didn't _quarrel_," she answered. "Where you come from, it may be acceptable for ladies' to air their differences in public like the kind of vulgar creatures that work in saloons, but here, that is not the case. Here, ladies do not _quarrel _like common trollops."

"No, apparently they just hold life-long grudges without even the decency to explain them," Sally retorted, her already frayed temper snapping. "Does Scarlett – Mrs Butler – even know what you have against her, or is this grievance something you have made up in your own mind, with no basis in reality?"

Sally wasn't exactly certain what kind of response she expected of India, but it wasn't the deep, hearty laughter that she got. "So you do have some gumption after all," India said at last, wiping tears of mirth from her face. Sally stared at her, unsure if the woman was unbalanced, or just hopelessly rude. "I was beginning to wonder what Wade saw in you, thought maybe he'd lived too long in his mother's shadow and had picked him a little mouse who would never overshadow him. Glad to see it's not so; the family could use a little vinegar in the mix."

"Miss Wilkes -"

"Oh, by all means, call me India." The older woman waved her hand carelessly. "Since you're going to be a member of the family. I imagine we'll see a lot of each other, over the years, whether we care to or not."

"Miss Wilkes," Sally pressed on firmly. "You seem to be under the misapprehension that... something of a permanent nature has been decided between Wade and myself. It has not. We are merely friends."

"Nonsense. You didn't come all the way here – from England – in order to be friends with Wade. You could have done that quite well from a distance. Of course you came here to marry him, so what's changed your mind?"

To her own shocked dismay, Sally found herself pouring out everything – absolutely everything – to this bitter woman with the eyes that looked so much like Wade's... if Wade's eyes had been cold and unfeeling, that is.

India listened in silence, and continued to be silent for a long moment after Sally had finished. Then she nodded slowly. "I suppose you have a choice to make now."

"What are you talking about?" Sally asked, wiping her cheeks free of the tears that had fallen while she spilled everything to this most-unlikely of confidantes. "What choice?"

"The choice you have to make is actually pretty simple, when it comes down to it. You need to choice whether or not he gets to win."

Sally looked at India, dismayed. "Gets to win? What do you mean?"

"Whatever he may have said his motive was, what your husband did was attempt to exercise control over your actions in a way that no one – male or female – should ever be controlled. And every time you allow his choice to dictate your actions, you let him win. When you sulk in your room rather than play with your son, he wins. When you brood alone rather than flirt with your beau, he wins. When you worry about your suitability as a wife, rather than making yourself better and more suitable with your own actions, he wins. Whenever you do those things, by your own will, you choose to let him win. Is that what you want? For him to succeed in breaking you?"

"No," Sally breathed. Her eyes flashed, and her hands clenched into fists. India eyed her with dour satisfaction.

"The rest of your life will either be about how he crippled you, or about how you overcame pain and misfortune to make your own choices. It's up to you which one it will be."

"How do you know all this, Miss Wilkes – India?"

"A man once allowed me to see how much of my life had been unfairly controlled by him, for his benefit," India said. "Ever since I discovered that, I have lived to make my own choices, and prove how wrong he was. I have done that to my satisfaction. I think you can do the same."

"Thank you, India." Sally reached out and took the other woman's hand and squeezed it for a moment. "Thank you for helping me to see that my future is still under my control. I – I can choose which path I want to walk; I don't have to reap the hatred and anger that Geoffrey tried to sow. I can let it go."

She turned her horse towards Pine Bloom and Wade, and rode off at a gallop.

"If she don't break her fool neck, first," India muttered under her breath, turning her own mount to ride back to Twelve Oaks.

* * *

**This was an interesting thing to try to write; making India, of all people, be helpful without making her behave totally out of character. Not easy, I tell you!  
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**I'm sorry I have not updated in what is a very long time for me. I'm one of those peculiar writers who cannot write anything useful in ten minutes; if I don't have several hours of writing time, nothing good ever comes of it. For most of August and early September, my life was blessed with an almost uninterrupted supply of such hours, but the last two weeks have not been so lucky. Some of the distractions have been good (a new nephew: Welcome, Braxton!) but others have been more problematic, including a decline in my mother's health. My filial duty and my own natural inclinations meet in the idea that I will provide whatever level of care I can, willingly and with a cheerful heart, but unlimited time to write may be one of the casualties. I still intend to finish this story (and luckily, I think it's within a few chapters of being complete) but after that, we'll just have to see.  
**

**In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter. If you feel inclined to review, I'd appreciate it greatly; right now, I need all the encouragement I can get!**


	12. The Night Before the Wedding

**The Night Before the Wedding**

* * *

Beau stepped carefully down to ground level; he had discovered in the past few months that the stone steps here at Mimosa were far from level, and sometimes crumbled unexpectedly underfoot. The last thing he needed was a broken ankle, or even a bad sprain; too many event over the next few weeks required his presence. Tomorrow's wedding was first, of course; he could just imagine how it would be if he had to act as his cousin's best man with his leg in a splint! He reminded himself to mention the steps to Alex, who seemed always to be working at something.

Katie and Lanie, as usual, complained about having go go back to Pine Bloom. They loved Mimosa, and coming here to spend time with their Aunt Sally and Uncle Alex was one of their favorite things to do. Mimosa never regained the gleam she had possessed before the war, the gleam that came from unlimited money and slaves, but it was not the run-down, almost decrepit place that Beau remembered from his childhood visits to the county, either. Scarlett had seen to that. Mimosa belonged, in part, to her daughters, and she would not allow their inheritance to stay in such a state of disrepair. That didn't surprise Beau much; he knew Aunt Scarlett was a force to be reckoned with when she wanted something. What did surprise him was that she found a way to do it that allowed Alex to keep his pride, setting up a co-op system that all the County farmers could join, helping them to get cheaper prices for seed, feed, and equipment and providing a venue for exchanging farming knowledge and tips. This showed unusual tact and discretion on Scarlett's part, as her typical methods were blunt to the point of offense.

"Are you going to come see us tonight?" Lanie demanded, grabbing Wade's hand and lingering after Beau and the more obedient Katie were heading towards the wagon. Katie stopped, waiting to hear Wade's answer. Beau sighed, and stopped himself, suddenly feeling glad that he had no siblings. These two were a handful.

"That wasn't the plan, Lanie-love," Wade said, with the gentle smile he reserved for his sisters. "The plan was that I stay here, so that the girls can get ready for the wedding. Ella has come such a long way to spend be the matron of honor."

"Just for a little while, Wade? Please? We'll sit on the back porch and eat watermelon and tell stories. Maybe Dilcey will even make us some ice cream? Please? You and Miss Sally will be going away for such a long time after tomorrow..."

"Please, Wade?" Katie added her voice to her sister's. "We won't bother Ella and Sally; they won't even know we are there. You can just sit with us on the back porch for a while, til it's bedtime."

Wade shook his head. "I swear, you two," he said, then smiled. "All right, I'll come this evening, for just a little while. Maybe long enough for a slice of watermelon, but that's all, you hear?"

"Yay!" Lanie cheered. Katie ran to him and flung her arms around his waist.

"I hate to think what you're going to be like with your own kids," Beau told his cousin, shaking his head in rueful reprimand. "Sally had better watch out, or you'll spoil them rotten, including the one she already has."

Wade laughed. "I know, I'm a soft touch. But there's something about kids that just gets to me, and I can't stand to disappoint them."

"Oh, I know that," Beau said, laughing as he settled the two girls in the wagon that would carry the three of them back to Pine Bloom. "And so do they!"

* * *

The back porch at Pine Bloom was dappled with sunlight and shade in infinite combinations that changed with every breeze through the branches of the trees that devoted themselves to making this one of the coolest places in Clayton County. Wade and his two sisters were unsurprised to discover that Scarlett sat on the swing here; as July edged slowly towards August and the time when she would give birth, she spent more and more of her time on this porch, doing whatever small chores she could manage without moving very far, or very fast. The breeze from the river blew across this terrace, and here Scarlett stayed as cool she could.

"Do you want some watermelon, Mama?" Wade asked, setting a large example of the aforementioned gourd down on the table with a small thump. "It's been cooling in the spring all afternoon."

"I believe I would like a slice," she agreed, turning her head languidly towards him.

"All right." Turning to his little sisters, he said, "Girls, go in the house and ask Dilcey for some plates, and spoons. When you come back, I'll have melon sliced up for you."

The girls leaped to obey him, eager for the watermelon which was a rare treat for them. "Mama, are you sure you're quite well?" Wade said, approaching his mother and taking her hand. "You seem... I don't know, rather tired, these last few days."

"I'm always very – tired isn't really the word for it," she said. "Tired implies something that's abnormal, and I promise you Wade, having gone through the process four times before, that what I'm feeling is quite normal. I'm not really tired, exactly; it's more as if all the excess energy that I would normally use to be active is drained directly to the baby. It's growing very quickly at this point, putting on the size it will need to be healthy when it's born."

"Does that leave you weaker?" he asked, squeezing her hand.

"Not weaker. I just find myself content to lay around and doze, like an old dog in the sun." She smiled lazily at him. "Especially in this heat, I just don't want to do anything much. But I'm fine; nothing hurts or feels out of place. It just takes a lot out of me."

"Well, if you're sure," he said, releasing her fingers and turning to the melon.

Scarlet smiled at him. "I am. But thank you for being concerned, darling; it's very sweet of you."

By the time the girls returned, Wade had sectioned the watermelon and was ready to serve it to them. After they each had a piece, and had squabbled briefly and typically about who had the bigger slice, a long moment of silence fell, broken only by the sound of spoons tearing into the meat of the watermelon. Then Katie said, "Wade, will you tell us a story?"

Wade shrugged. "I guess I will, Katie. What kind of story do you want?"

Katie hesitated. "Cold you tell us a story about our daddy?" she asked. "Cap'n Rhett said you would help us to 'member him. I forget what he looked like sometimes."

She looked so woebegone that Wade put aside his surprise and said, "I guess we could do that. Is there anything in particular you'd like to hear?"

Lanie spoke up then. "I want to hear about how he died," she said. "Mama always told us he was a hero, that he died saving her, but we never knew exactly how it happened, and we never liked to ask, 'cause Mama was so upset. You were there Wade; can you tell us?"

Wade hesitated, glancing over at Scarlett. It was true that the girls had never gotten more than the bare-bones facts, but Wade didn't want to tell the story if it would upset his mother. She smiled at him – a little sadly, true, but still a smile – and waved a hand at him to show that she didn't mind.

"Well," he began. "We were in Scotland, visiting the home of a man your papa did business with..."

* * *

_The house they were staying at belonged to a friend of Uncle Tony's, a man he did business with. __Mr McTavish__ owned a large estate not far from Aberdeen; it was where the Scotch __whiskey he made was manufactured. Wade was a curious boy, and had been given a tour of the distillery, as well as having the run of the stables and the companionship of the stable-masters youngest son, who was just his age. They had come for the Christmas __h__olidays, and intended to return to London in the first week of January, but then first Katie and then Lanie had fallen ill with a cold. It was not serious, just enough to make them cranky and keep them in bed, but Mr McTavish insisted they stay until the 'gurrrls,' as he said it, were well again._

_Mama stayed mostly with the girls in the nursery. She took care of them herself, and Wade knew that their hosts were surprised and rather dismayed to see this. It was not uncommon for upper-class British ladies to have children they saw for only a few minutes a day; Wade knew this from conversations with his school-friends, who were always surprised at the amount of attention his mother paid to him. But he also knew that the British had some very strange customs, so he was not surprised to see that his mother's action caused the nursery maids to gossip about her. _

_ In that week, Wade spent most of his time with Uncle Tony, sampling the pleasant activities that could be had in the Scottish countryside. They hunted, and Uncle Tony, who seemed to know a lot about many different subjects, taught him to find and follow the tracks of wild rabbit, and how to use the dogs to hunt birds. They even set up a blind one morning and bagged a nice pair of geese, which were served for dinner that evening __on a bed of wild rice. Still, __the almost eighteen-year-old__ Wade found the Scottish countryside of limited interest, especially after a day or two of warmer-than-usual-weather caused most of the snow-cover to melt away. So he was pleased and surprised one morning when Uncle Tony had announced that they were going to do something a bit different today, and that Mama, who needed a break from the sick-room, would be accompanying them._

_After breakfast, Uncle Tony led the two of them to the barn, where he grabbed a burlap sack ful__l__ of mysterious items __that clinked together in a metallic way__. "What's in there?" Wade asked, __as his stepfather lad them to a path that wound behind the barn._

_ "Equipment," Uncle Tony answered, laughing at the eager interest Wade showed._

_ The two of them had become very close since that day, more than three years ago now, when Wade had decided to accept his stepfather. __Uncle Tony was just the kind of person Wade would have asked for, if he had made a list of qualities for his mother's husband; he was charming, kind, __and__ thoughtful, yet he seemed to have a good instinct about when to back off and allow people to have time alone. Wade admitted to his mother that Uncle Tony was 'a good enough type,' and his mother had the go__o__d sense to accept that, and not probe further into the sensitive emotions of an adolescent __boy__._

_ When they arrived at the pond, Uncle Tony startled Wade by pulling ice skates from the bag he carried. Sitting them down on the huge fallen tree that served as seating not far from the edge of the ice, he strapped them on, over-riding Scarlett's protests. "I promise, you'll love it," he told her, smiling into her eyes in that way that always made Wade wish he were somewhere else. "Give it half-an-hour; if you don't like it, then we'll stop."_

_His mother rolled her eyes, but allowed her husband to strap the skates to her boots. Wade finished __attaching__ his before Uncle Tony did, and began to carefully maneuver himself the half-a-dozen __feet__ to the edge of the frozen pond._

_ "Do you need help, Wade?" Tony asked. _

_ "No, I've done this before," he answered. "Remember when I went to spend a weekend with my friend William in Yorkshire? He taught me then."_

_ "Ok, great!" Tony turned back to Scarlett and helped her as she gingerly attempted to stand. __Her natural grace seemed to have deserted her in those first few minutes, but Uncle Tony was right; long before the thirty minutes was up, Scarlett was laughing and skating on her own, __though she still clung to her husband's hand. And perhaps that was a good thing, because when they heard the ominous crack of breaking ice, they were together. Tony, always a man who made swift decisions, spun Scarlett out of the way, pushing her so hard that __s__he __slid__, bruised and breathless, a dozen yards from where they had been. On the safe side of the rift that had opened in the ice. _

_ Wade tried to rescue Tony, but the older man was heavy enough that the breaking ice collapsed beneath him, dumping him in the water. Even then, Wade tried; he lay down on the ice and reached out to his stepfather. For a moment, the two grabbed hands, and Wade tried to pull his stepfather out, but the crack of the ice came again, louder, and Wade felt the frozen water giv__ing__ away beneath him. Tony looked at him with those dark eyes that were so like both his daughter's, and Wade saw the awareness in his eyes. _

_ "Take care of your mother, son," Uncle Tony __whispered hoarsely__, and then he let go, sliding his hand out of Wade's grip. His shoulders disappeared beneath the water, and though Wade knew that Tony could swim, he made no effort to do so, merely slipped __soundlessly away __leaving his stepson to wonder how a day that had begun so well could lead to such tragedy__._

* * *

"Oh, he was brave," Katie said. She had come and curled up on Wade's lap while he spoke, and he smiled at her, brushing the tears from her face.

"Yes, he was," Wade agreed. "He pushed Mama out of the way, not even trying to save himself first. And that makes him a hero, in my eyes."

""What caused the ice to break, Wade?" Lanie asked. She had not crawled on Wade's lap like her sister, but she did have her hand curled tightly around his arm.

"Apparently, the warmer weather we had that week was enough to weaken it," Wade said. "No one would have known, just looking at it; it looked fine."

"I wish it hadn't happened," Katie said. "I'm happy now... and I really like Cap'n Rhett... but I didn't want my daddy to die."

"'Course you didn't," a deep, masculine voice said. Turning, Wade saw that at sometime in he past few minutes, Rhett had joined them, which should not have surprised him; rarely was Rhett away from Scarlett for long, if he had the choice. "Remember, we talked about this, darling. Your daddy was a good man, and it's ok for you to miss him. Sometimes, we just don't get what we want in this world." Rhett's gaze sought out his wife. "Which means we have to appreciate the things we do get all the more." He smiled at the two girls. "And that includes the ice cream Dilcey is making for you in the kitchen."

"Ice cream? Yay!" Lanie said. She grabbed Katie's hand. "Come on, little sister. Let's go get some!"

* * *

**I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've had family responsibilities, which have to come first. Maybe this is the reason I never tried to write for a living... I would have gone hungry too often!  
**

**Still, I enjoy writing, so I'm going to try to get back into the habit of it. Next up, Wade's wedding. Hopefully, I'll be able to post that on Monday. Thanks for reading this, and if you'd like to leave a review, I'd appreciate the feedback.**


	13. The Wedding Day, (Part 1)

The Wedding Day (Part 1)

* * *

Scarlett pressed her hand to her lower back. Though her action was as unobtrusive as she could make it, Rhett noticed. Just lately, Rhett seemed to notice everything about her.

"Are you uncomfortable?" he asked, and she allowed herself to be soothed by that wonderfully mellow southern drawl. Really, it was so unfair that a man so handsome and charming should have such an alluring voice, as well.

"I'm fine, sweetheart," she answered. "My back just aches a little, which is common when a woman is this far along. Remember, I used to have back-aches when I was carrying Bonnie?"

"I remember," he said, his eyes darkening with the pleasure-pain that his daughter's name always seemed to evoke. "I used to rub it for you."

"You did," she agreed, smiling as she recalled those happy days that had been followed by such needless tragedy. "And I wish we had time for you to do it now; I'm sure that you would take the pain away in no time, just like you did then. But there isn't any time; I need to go and help Sally dress, since her own mother isn't here -"

"Just make sure that you don't overdo it," Rhett said, putting his hand on her belly protectively. The baby kicked vigorously just then, and he smiled in clear delight. "Remember, our little one is counting on you to be sensible."

She smiled fondly at him and covered his hand with her own. "I will," she murmured, leaning up to kiss him. "I promise." Somehow, the light kiss she had intended became a much deeper and more intense caress, and Rhett's face was flushed when he finally, gently, pulled away.

"I don't know how you manage to do that to me every time," he whispered, burying his face in her hair. "Even now, in your condition, I get all excited just kissing you..."

Scarlett laughed, but it was a sound of pure joy and not malice. "Why, Rhett Butler! That has to be the nicest thing anyone has said to me since I started looking like a small elephant."

"You're beautiful," he told her, pulling back to look into her eyes. "You'll always be beautiful to me."

Scarlett pushed playfully against his chest. "How you do run on!"

"It's absolutely true." He put his hand over his heart. "I swear on a stack of bibles!"

"You would, you varmint. But really, Rhett, I do need to go to Sally now."

"And I need to ride over to Mimosa to see about Wade," Rhett said. "He and Beau had a 'small gathering of friends' last night; I guess I'll just have to hope they didn't get so liquored up they don't want to get up this morning."

"Oh, as much as Wade has looked forward to this wedding, I don't think you have to worry about him," Scarlett said cheerfully. Then she said what she always said when he went out to ride. "And do be careful, won't you, darling?"

"I will, if you promise to rest," he replied, pointing an admonitory finger at her.

"I promise," she agreed readily. She watched him walk away, her smile fading a bit as she put her hand gently on her belly. The muscles were tight and hard, and though there was no pain yet, Scarlett wondered if perhaps this baby was going to make an earlier appearance than anyone expected. The tightness eased, and Scarlett shrugged. There was nothing she could do about the baby; long experience had taught her that it would come when it did, and their was no sense in fretting about it. In the meantime, the wedding arrangements needed her input now. Turning, she made her way into the house.

* * *

Sally looked around the crowded dressing room studying the people who were here to help her dress for the wedding. First, there was Ella, her best friend from childhood who would today become her sister by marriage. Sally flashed a warm smile at her; Ella looked lovely in the pale green gown Sally had picked for her maid of honor.

Standing behind Ella was her mother, Sally's future mother-in-law. The still-beautiful, heavily pregnant older woman was attempting to fasten Ella's hair into a sophisticated twist, and was foiled by not being able to get close enough. "Well, Fiddle-dee-dee," she muttered. "Sally, can you get this? I can't quite manage."

Sally moved forward, but so did the fourth woman in the room. Sally Fontaine stepped forward at the same moment, then both women paused. "Oh, um, I meant old Sally," Scarlett said, then blushed darkly as she realized how that sounded. "Um – older Sally," she tried, before stopping again.

Fortunately, life had taught Sally Fontaine a great deal about choosing her battles carefully. There might come a time when she would need to fight with Scarlett, but it wouldn't be over such a minor issue as this. She laughed with genuine amusement. "The best thing to do when you realize you're in a hole is to stop digging, Scarlett," she said. Scarlett laughed, and shook her head.

Stepping forward, Sally carefully finished making the adjustments to Ella's hair. "There, that ought to do," she sighed. Leaning back, she put her hands to the small of her back, unconsciously copying Scarlett, who had done the same thing. Sally was also pregnant, though not as far along as Scarlett

"I suppose we do have to discuss the issue of our names though," she said, looking at the younger Sally with a smile. "Being as how you're from England, I don't know if you realize just how small our social circle here in the county is. We're going to be seeing a lot of each other, and that means one or the other of us is going to have to give up the right to be called plain 'Sally.' If we don't figure out something, by default I really will end up being called Old Sally, and I won't have it. We need to figure out something else."

"Um – what do you have in mind?" Sally asked. She didn't want to start a fight with anyone, especially not today, which was supposed to be so joyful.

"What's your full name?" the older woman asked.

"Um – Sarah Josephine Eleanor Jennings," Sally said, puzzled.

"That makes it easier," the other Sally said. "You can become Sally Jo."

"Sally Jo." The bride rolled the words around on her tongue. "Yes, I like it," she said at last. "Sally Jo. It sounds very American, doesn't it?"

"Better than that," Ella said. "It sounds _southern._ Now come on, honey, we need to get you dressed. Not that I think Wade would mind if you walked down the aisle in your shimmy, but it's perhaps not the best first impression to give the rest of the county."

* * *

"Where are we going Lanie?" Katie asked, huffing and puffing as her sister pulled her around the corner of the house.

"Guess," Lanie said.

"I don't know. If we were headed towards the house, I'd say you had another idea to steal pies or cakes, but we're going away from the house, so I don't know."

"So what's back here? _Think, _Katie!"

"I don't know. The barn, the springhouse -"

"Right! The springhouse. That's where we're going!"

"But what's in the springhouse," Katie asked, looking confused.

"They put food in there to keep it cool, right?" Lanie said. "So I bet that's where they have the watermelon they're going to serve at Wade's feast tonight."

"So we're going to get some watermelon?" Katie thought it over. "You know, Lanie, that's actually not a bad idea," she said. "Mama is used to us trying to get pies and cakes; she won't expect us to try for watermelon. Plus, she never said we _couldn't_ have watermelon, so it's not really even stealing. It's just – just _getting_."

"Right," Lanie said. She never paid much attention to what her sister blabbed about; she was just glad Katie was going to go along.

The two of them crept carefully around the edge of the barn, and headed down the hill to where the roof of the spring house seemed to just project from the edge of the hillside.

"How did this even get here?" Lanie asked, looking at the roof.

"Wade says the first settlers here dug it out," Katie answered as they walked around to where stone steps led between two embankments to the almost-buried door that led to the springhouse.

"Why? Just to keep food cold?" Lanie asked. She took hold of the door and pulled, but it refused to budge.

"Wait, it has a latch," Katie said, pointing.

"We can't reach that," Lanie said. She ran back up the steps, and returned with a branch, which she deftly used to push the plain metal latch up. Once that was done, the door swung open a little, and the girls could feel the welcome coolness.

"They made butter here, too. Back before there was a town, when everything had to come from the farm. They made butter, and stored vegetables and meat and milk here, where it was cool."

"Never mind cool; it's downright cold." Lanie shivered a little in her thin cotton dress. "What makes it so cold, Katie? Did Wade tell you?"

"He said it's the water. It comes from underground, and it's cold, and it cools the air."

Lanie went to the edge of the water channel and looked into it. "How deep is the water?" she asked.

"Not very deep. When Wade brought me here, he put a stick in it to show me. It was only as tall as my shoulder."

"What's in the other room?"

"The creamery. They made butter there. But if there are watermelons, they are probably on these shelves over here, above the water. That's where it's coolest. Wade said."

"There they are, Katie! I see them. Great ball of fire! There are _hundreds_ of them."

"Well, there are a lot," the more-practical twin said. "Can you get one down?"

Lanie climbed on to stone edge of the water channel and reached for one of the melons. It was just out of her grasp, making it at a perfect height for an adult. "I can't quite reach -" she said. "Let me move down here, Katie, maybe I can reach from there. It looks higher."

Carefully, Lanie edged to the far rim of the water channel and reached up for a melon. It was higher here, and she was able grasp one of the slippery gourds and work it towards her. After a few minutes of tugging, with Katie carefully holding on to her, she was able to pull the melon down. Unfortunately, when it came loose, so did two others that had been above it in the pile. One fell into the water channel and was carried away by the current; the other fell to the stone lip of the channel and broke open. Large pieces of it fell into the water and sank.

"Now you've made a mess!" Katie exclaimed.

"Yes, but I got us a watermelon," Lanie answered, grinning at her sister. "Come on, let's go to the tree house and eat it."

After a great feast of watermelon, the two girls disposed of the evidence of their venture in the trough that the pig-slop went in. Then they carefully wiped their faces and hands and went inside to join their cousins at play. No one had noticed them slip away; no one commented upon their return.

It seemed like a perfect crime.

Two hours after the watermelon feast had been consumed, Katie was playing hide-and-seek with her younger cousins in the halls and clutter of the dusty attic. Suddenly, a shadow fell over her, and Katie looked up to see Uncle Alex standing between her and the window. "Um – Hello, Uncle Alex," she said. Usually she liked her uncle, who had always been kindness itself to her and her sister, but today she felt a teensy bit uneasy in his company.

"Katie," he said. "Where's your sister, _cher_?"

"I think she went outside to play tag with the boys. I'm playing hide-and-seek."

"Well, that's okay," he said. "Come on down and sit on the porch with me for a minute; I want to talk to you. You won't mind giving up a few minutes of your game to talk to your old uncle, will you?"

"No, of course not," Katie said. They walked in perfect silence to the front porch, where they sat side-by-side on the wicker love seat.

"Um, what did you want to talk to me about?" Katie asked, when he didn't speak after a minute. She noticed that his hair was wet, and that puzzled her, since the clothes he wore were dry. Then she saw that the shirt he wore was Wade's, and the little feeling of unease grew larger. Why would he be wearing one of Wade's shirts?

"Do you know how a springhouse works, Katie?" he asked.

_He knows!_ she thought, and her gaze dropped so that she was staring at her hands neatly clasped together in her lap. _Somehow, he knows._

"Um, a little," she said. "Wade showed me and told me about the one here once – I think it was last summer."

"So tell me how it works," he encouraged.

"Well, it's built into the hillside. The water flows from the spring into the channels made of stone, through the springhouse, which cools the air. They keep meat there, and milk, butter and cheese, stuff that would go bad if it got too warm."

Uncle Alex nodded. "That's very good," he said, his voice very agreeable. "But there's one thing you forgot to mention, Katie. That might not be your fault, because it's not a very interesting piece of information, so Wade might not even have mentioned it to you. And that is, what happens to the water when it leaves the springhouse. Do you know, Katie?"

She shook her head vigorously. "No sir, I don't," she said, her voice little more than a whisper. She was remembering the watermelon that fell into the water, and she had a terrible feeling that she knew how Uncle Alex had gotten his hair wet, and why he was wearing clothes that weren't his own.

"The water leaves through an outflow channel. This channel is small, so that pretty much the same amount of water flows out as is coming in. This is important, _cher, _because if the water can't get out, it would build up, getting higher and higher, and finally it would spill over onto the shelves and ruin the food that was stored there. That's why they build the outflow like they do, to let the water drain out. I'm telling you this, Katie, because sometimes, things can go wrong with that system. A piece of debris sometimes works its way into the channel – a chunk of wood, a good size piece of rock -"

"A watermelon," Katie whispered.

"Yeah, I think a watermelon could do it," he agreed cheerfully. "Fortunately, whatever it was that blocked the outflow channel today hadn't been there long, and I was able to get to it before any real damage happened. But as I was changing my clothes – I got totally soaked, of course – it occurred to me that you probably didn't know how things worked with the springhouse, and I just thought I should contribute to your education. Not that you'd be playing in the springhouse anyway." He stood up and smiled at her. "You might pass that on to your sister, too; I doubt if she knows, either."

"I will," she agreed; standing quickly, she hugged him hard. "Thank you, Uncle Alex," she said.

He smiled at her, his teeth very white in his dark face. "You're welcome, _cher_," he said gently. "You're very welcome.

* * *

The wedding was held in the open area beside the house. Once, long ago, Cade Calvert had asked Scarlett to marry him here, and the sight of the clearing never failed to bring a quick pang of grief to her heart for all that the war had taken. Since the ceremony was so small – only about three dozen people sat on the folding chairs before the makeshift altar – Scarlett had decided that she didn't need to feel awkward about appearing in public when she was so ungainly. She did, however, decide to do away with the tradition that would have her enter last, as a signal that the ceremony was about to begin. So she sat in the front row before even the first guests arrived, and greeted people who wandered up to talk to her and Rhett before the ceremony.

They had rolled the old upright piano onto the porch, and one of Sally Fontaine's cousins played hymns on it, until the signal came that the bride was ready. Wade and Beau, who was his best man, took their place at the front of the rows of chairs, and Scarlett admired how handsome he looked in his tuxedo.

Suddenly, a memory of Charles Hamilton came to her – not the shy boy she had married, but the carefree boy who had spent the summer at Twelve Oaks once, when she was eight or so. Ashley had been gone somewhere – Scarlett didn't remember where now – and the two had spent the entire two weeks of his visit together, riding and swimming and climbing trees. Charlie hadn't been so shy then, or seemed like such a sissy, and Scarlett had quite enjoyed his company. That was the Charles Hamilton that Wade reminded her of, and she smiled at her son, a bit mist-eyed. Rhett took her hand and squeezed it gently, and Scarlett squeezed back. It was good that he was there. Then the doors to the house were opened by two boys dressed in matching white shirts and dark blue pants, and the music changed. The ceremony was about to begin.

Normally, Scarlett would have turned to watch the bride, but her size made it difficult, so she watched Wade, instead. She saw his affectionate approval as Ella came out and moved with her usual elegant grace to her place at the altar. Then the tempo of the music changed once again, and Scarlett saw Wade's eyes widen as he saw Sally Jo (Scarlett wondered if he knew about the new name yet) start towards him. The look on his face was everything she had wanted for him, the total joy and love that a mother wishes for all her children, and Scarlett settled back in her seat, content. Wade would be fine, she was sure of it.

Later, Scarlett could not believe the poor timing. She had not planned it – could not have planned it – but just as the minister pronounced Wade and Sally Jo man and wife, a hard pain knifed through her belly, surprising her so that she was unable to suppress a gasp. Rhett turned towards her, but even worse, she saw that Wade did, too. She wanted to protest, to tell him to go on and kiss his wife, he had plenty of time for that, but the pain that signaled the onset of her labor had stolen her voice as well, and no words came.

* * *

**So, it looks like Scarlett is going to have her baby sooner than expected! The whole process of predicting a due date for the baby was very hit-and-miss in the days (not so long ago) before regular sonograms could tell a doctor much more about how mature the fetus is. So... perfectly possible to be off by days or even several weeks.**

**I'm going to try to write and post the next chapter tomorrow. I don't guarantee I'll get it done, but I will give it my best shot. So we should know soon what kind of baby we get. If you want, you can review and tell me what you want it to be; I'll let you know what the count was when I post the next chapter. Even if you don't have an opinion about the baby, you can review; I always love to hear from you.**


	14. The Wedding Day (Part 2)

The Wedding Day (Part 2)

* * *

The next few minutes were a blur in Scarlett's mind. She remembered Rhett rising and bending over her. Before she could get her voice working again, he scooped her into his arms and carried her past the gaping crowd into the house.

"You didn't have to do that," she said, when they were in the dim hallway. "I could have walked."

"No. You need to be in bed, where the doctor can examine you," Rhett said; the cold, clipped tone of his voice would once have irritated her beyond bearing, before she knew that it covered his deeper emotions. He was afraid, she knew, absolutely terrified that she now faced a danger that he could not rescue her from, or even fight with her. This battle belonged to her alone.

He carried her up the stairs to their room, and laid her on the bed, tenderly, as if she were the most precious thing in the world. Scarlett looked up at him, and smiled. "I'll be all right, darling," she murmured. "I really believe that this will be an easy birth, like the twin's. By morning, I'll be ready for a big old plate of ham and eggs, with biscuits and some of Dilcey's strawberry preserves."

"You promise?" he asked, and something about his eyes reminded her of Wade. Not Wade as he was now, but Wade as he had been as a little boy, looking up to her and depending on her to know how to handle things for him.

"I promise," she said, as other people entered the room, Sally and Sally Jo among them. They drew Rhett away, shepherding him out, but in the doorway, he turned for a last look at Scarlett. She smiled at him and blew him a kiss, and he allowed himself to be thrust out into the hallway, with the door firmly closed behind him.

"Uncle Rhett!"

Wade's voice seemed to shock him awake, almost as though he had been in a trance. "What?"

""Is Mama all right? Is there something wrong, beside the baby?"

"No, she says everything is going well, and she thinks the birth will be completely normal," Rhett said, reacting automatically to the anxiety in his stepson's eyes. "For us, it's down to just waiting."

"And that's the hard part," Wade said, drawing Rhett away from the door. Just as they were about to turn the corner and head toward the main staircase, the door to Scarlett's room opened behind them. Rhett turned quickly, and Wade frowned as he saw the fear on his stepfather's face.

Sally Jo emerged from the room, still wearing her white wedding dress. "Wade, I am going to have Prissy help me to change, then I'll come back and let Sally and Ella go," she said. "After that, we'll be with your mama. You don't mind, do you?"

He smiled at her gently. "Of course not," he told her, pulling her close for a sweet, though brief, kiss. "I wouldn't be able to concentrate for worrying about Mama and my sisters, anyway, Sally Jo." He emphasized the last two words in a teasing way, and she looked up at him.

"How did you find out about that?" she asked. "I was going to tell you, but I haven't had a chance."

"Uncle Alex told me. He didn't want me to take it the wrong way, but he said that Sally was dead-set against being called 'Old Sally,' and was determined to do something about it."

"And the name 'Sally Jo' actually suits you very well," Rhett added. Wade smiled when he saw that Rhett was able to at least pretend to be normal; perhaps the wait wouldn't be so overwhelmingly difficult, after all. "Now that you're a southern girl, and all."

Sally Jo laughed. "That's what Ella said," she answered cheerfully. "I need to go get changed now; I'll see you two _fine, _southern gentlemen later, hmm?"

Wade kissed her cheek again; turning towards her room, she paused long enough to put her hand on Rhett's arm briefly. "I think everything will be fine," she told him. "By morning, you'll have a healthy daughter or son to love, along with the mother."

"Thank you," he said, surprising her by gently kissing her forehead. "And before I get to caught up in my own drama to remember – welcome to the family!"

"Thank you, Uncle Rhett," she said, smiling at him before she slipped off to her own room to change.

Wade led Rhett outside, where the guests were partaking of the buffet, just as if nothing had happened. Rhett got a plate and sat at one of the picnic tables, picking at the chicken and potato salad until he heard a small voice beside him say, "Cap'n Rhett?"

Turning, he saw Lanie and Katie, holding hands and looking tense and miserable. "Well, hello, girls. Are you two not eating?" Not being interested in food was most unlike them.

"We're not hungry," Katie said solemnly. "Cap'n Rhett, what's the matter with Mama? Why did you carry her away?"

"Well, it's time for the baby to be born," Rhett said, uneasily aware that if he wasn't careful, he would end up having a delicate conversation with his little step-daughters. Their mother had told them very little of how babies were born, deeming them too young to understand, but he might not have any choice but to share a bit more information with them if he was to reassure them.

"Does that make Mama ill? Getting the baby out? Wade took our cousin, Young Doctor Joe, upstairs a few minutes ago. Will he help Mama to feel better?"

"He will," Rhett said, trying to project confidence and good cheer. "You two will go home with Aunt Suellen, and when you come back, probably first thing in the morning, there will be a new baby brother or sister for you to play with."

"I hope it's a girl," Lanie said, perking up. "Then I will have _two_ little sisters to play with." She nudged Katie playfully.

Katie stuck her tongue out at her sister. "Well, I hope it's a boy. 'Cause then, I'll still be the baby girl of the family." She turned towards her stepfather. "What do you want, Cap'n Rhett?" she asked. "Would you rather have a girl, or a boy?"

Rhett smiled at her. "Mostly, I just hope it's healthy," he told them. "But perhaps your mother will have twins again, and this time it will be one of each."

They stared at him, eyes wide. "Can she _do_ that?" Lanie asked at last, her voice awed.

"Have twins? Well, she did once," Rhett said, amused by her disbelief.

"No, I mean have different kinds? A boy and a girl. I thought twins were always either both boys, or both girls," Lanie clarified.

"No, you can have brother and sister twins. Would you like that? One of each?"

Lanie and Katie looked at each other, and seemed to reach a silent consensus. "No. I don't think so," Katie said, shaking her head. "That would be confusing."

"Well, it's not as if we get a choice," Rhett said. "We get what we get."

Before they could answer, Rhett spotted Suellen bustling in their direction. She was the last person he wanted to deal with now, but he supposed he had no choice if the girls were to go home with her.

"Rhett, I had Prissy pack a bag for the girls and William when Wade asked if they could spend the night," she said.

Rhett nodded, forcing himself to smile at her, though the expression had no warmth.

"Thank you, Suellen," he said. "I'll send someone to get them, and bring you the news, in the morning."

She smiled wanly. "Thank you, Rhett," she said. "Come girls, let's go get your nephew."

* * *

Beau and Penny were sitting by themselves near the grape arbor. He knew that he should go and support his cousin and Uncle Rhett, and he would... in a minute. But just now, he allowed himself to relax and enjoy Penny's company. He loved her so much, and felt more at home with her than he had with anyone since his mother died.

After a few minutes of sitting quietly, just holding her hand, he became aware that she was watching Uncle Rhett with a small, secretive smile. "What?" he asked.

She looked at him. "What are you talking about?" she asked, her mouth curving so that her dimples showed. Normally, Beau would have been distracted, thinking about kissing them away, but not today.

"You _saw_ something, didn't you?" he asked. "What? Tell me, please?"

She hesitated, then whispered five words in his ear. "Well, that's interesting," he said. "I assume you don't want to tell anyone?"

She sighed. "Beau, you know what will happen. If I get a reputation as a witch, I will be shunned by some people, and courted by others, and all for something I have no control over. I really don't want that. If there was something I could do to help, I would do it, but in this case, there's nothing to do but wait. I can't change the outcome, and it's not as though it's _bad_, anyway. Just... surprising."

"I suppose you're right," he said. "But you know, sooner or later, you almost certainly will come across something you can change," he said. "Something you want to change. How will you handle that?"

"The same way I handled the situation with Wade," she said firmly. "If I hadn't said anything to him about my abilities, he would just think he was the luckiest man in the world when I backed out of our engagement. I only told him because..."

"Because why?" Beau asked.

"Because I thought that since he was your best friend as well as your cousin, it would be awkward if he thought badly of me for going with you right after he and I broke up," she said. "And I didn't want to make things awkward between you. You two have been through a lot, through the years. You should be friends forever, with no shadows between you."

He smiled at her. "You know, you're a rather lovely girl, Miss Penelope."

She fluttered her lashes at him. "Do you really think so, Mister Beauregard? Do tell me more!" she begged him. Both of them burst into laughter, and Beau thought, not for the first time, how lucky he was to have found her.

They parted company soon after, when Penny's parents came to take her home. As an unmarried girl, Penny would not be allowed to stay and help with the birth, so she allowed Beau to kiss her hand formally and left with her father. Beau wandered over and sat with Wade and Rhett in the shade, both of them trying hard to distract the older man, both of them knowing that it couldn't really be done. Alex had sent his younger children home in the care of the wife of one of the field hands, and he sat with the others as the last of the wedding guests left and the sun began to set behind the trees.

"Well, I can guess that this is not how you thought you'd be spending your wedding night," Beau joked with his cousin.

"No. I at least thought my new wife would be somewhere in sight," Wade said, laughing. "But I have to admit, I wouldn't be able to concentrate on much else, even if Sally Jo was down here with me. I'd be wondering what kind of sibling I have, and worrying about the twins."

"Oh, you're just such a soft touch for your family," Beau said.

"You shouldn't joke too much, son; Wade's family has done a lot for you over the years," Alex said. His tone was amiable enough, but his eyes were serious.

Beau smiled, refusing to take any offense. "I know they have, Aunt Scarlett first among them. From what I've been told, I wouldn't even have been alive if she hadn't stayed with Mama when everyone else left Atlanta, and then she brought us to Tara with her and gave us a place to stay until Father got home. And even afterward, for a while; my father was never much good at business."

"No," Rhett said. "He wasn't."

"Wade, there's something I've meant to ask you," Beau said. "I put it off for a long time, because it reminded me of father's death, but... whatever happened to the man who knocked Uncle Rhett out and left him to die in the hotel fire? Rodney, wasn't that his name? The same person who man-handled Penny on the day of Ella's wedding?"

Wade and Rhett exchanged glances, and Beau became aware, not for the first time, that there was some sort of mystery about that night, something his family wasn't telling him. At first, he thought the secrecy was because he was recovering from his own injuries, but years had gone by now, and they still hadn't told him.

"Yeah, it was Rodney," Wade said, his eyes not quite meeting Beau's. "After I talked to Rhett, we decided it wasn't worth the trouble to try to prosecute him, since he hadn't succeeded in killing Rhett, or even permanently injuring him. So Jamie and I – you know Jamie, Beau, the same one who's the now foreman for your Aunt India's workers? - he and I took him out to the country north of Atlanta, undressed him to his skivvys, paid a farmer to let us roll him in his pigsty, and then dumped the contents of a pair of feather pillows over him. We left him out there to get back to town however he could – which I know he did, because he was in London when I was there last winter."

Alex roared with laughter, and clapped Wade on the back, and even Uncle Rhett managed a faint smile. Beau thought about pushing for the rest of the information that he wanted. Oddly enough, the reason he hesitated was an image of Aunt Scarlett, smiling that cool, ironic smile of hers, saying, "Are you sure you really want to know this?" when he had asked her about his financial situation after his father's death. Then he had been certain he wanted to know, though he had not liked anything he heard, but now? He wondered if he really did want to know, because the truth had something to do with his father, who had not been...stable...for a long time before he died.

Before he could decide to push the issue, they were interrupted by Young Doctor Joe emerging from the house and heading in their direction. He held a plate in one hand, and a glass that clearly contained milk in the other, so even Rhett was unable to believe that he was the bearer of bad news.

This was confirmed by the smile he gave Rhett as he sat down. "Your wife said to tell you that in the morning wasn't going to be soon enough for the big meal. She told Dilcey to send a message to the kitchen to save her the left-overs from supper, because she'll be ready for them in a couple of hours!"

"Do you agree with that?" Rhett asked. "I mean, young as you are, you are a doctor."

Joe laughed. "Yes, and judging by the experiences of my grandfather and great-grandfather, I'm probably going to be known as 'Young Doctor Joe' until I drop dead of old age... Well, there are worse things. Yes, Uncle Rhett, I agree. Aunt Scarlett is doing well, progressing through labor quickly, like the old hand she is at this. After all, this is what – her fifth? Sixth?"

"Fifth," Wade said. "The twins count as one, right? And the miscarriage wouldn't count at all."

Joe nodded. "So this is her fifth time to have a baby, she knows what to expect, she's as healthy as a horse, and her spirits are excellent. Plus, she's already about half-way through with her labor, and it's only been three hours. My guess is, you'll have a baby to admire before midnight."

Rhett nodded. "Thank you," he said.

Joe nodded. "It's the best part of this job, delivering babies," he told them. "And now, if you don't mind, I'm going to eat, before I get called back for the work ahead."

He smiled at them, and proceeded to devote his undivided attention to his food.

* * *

Scarlett thought that she had never been so hot. One of Prissy's several daughters sat in the corner with a big fan, waving it in their direction, but it only served to stir the humid air without in any way refreshing it. Sweat beaded on Scarlett's forehead, but before she could raise a hand, Ella wiped a cool cloth across her face.

"Bless you," Scarlett muttered. "Remind me again why I ever agreed to let another man touch me?"

Ella laughed gently. "Well, you _are_ the one who wanted to marry him," she reminded her mother. "And you can't even say you didn't know what would happen; you've known that marriage leads to babies since Wade was born, at least."

"Yes. Poor Wade, I've ruined his wedding for him..."

"No such thing," Ella said. "The wedding was just fine. It's the wedding night you interrupted, and he and Sally will still have their time, once we're done with the baby."

"Sally Jo," her mother reminded her, a gasp escaping her lips as the pain took her again, great waves of it that could not be evaded, or fought, but only endured. That was the thing she hated about childbirth; it was so inescapable. She gripped Ella's hand, relaxing as the contraction passed.

"That was a bad one," she said.

"They're getting harder," Dilcey agreed. She hadn't officially been a midwife for years, but Scarlett would trust the hands of this old black woman over those of many of the young doctors she knew, any day. Young Doctor Joe seemed all right, but he was so – well, _young_. Scarlett remembered laying him and Wade down on a blanket in the shade to nap when Sally had come to visit Tara, one afternoon in those terrible weeks just after the war ended. And now he was old enough to call himself a doctor, and deliver babies? Preposterous, but true, and it made her reluctant to fully trust him.

"You, Prunella. Come over here and fan Miz Scarlett, and do it right, now," Dilcey ordered her granddaughter. Scarlett closed her eyes, a little sound of pleasure leaving her as the girl moved closer and fanned her more vigorously.

"Oh, that feels wonderful," she sighed. Then a little giggle escaped her.

"What you laughin' about, Miz Scarlett?" Dilcey asked.

"Oh, I was just thinking about Prissy," Scarlett said. "For a girl who once told me she 'didn't know nothin' bout birthin' no babies,' she sure managed to have a lot of them. How many grandchildren has she given you and Pork now, Dilcey?"

"Eight, and all of 'em as good-for-nothin' as their ma," Dilcey said; though her tone was grim, Scarlett knew that she adored her grandchildren.

"Well, I reckon she knows a lot more about babies now," Scarlett said. "Oh. Oh!" She moaned as the pain took her again, and she let it flow through her until nothing else existed, just her and the pain, alone in a bleak world. Even thoughts of Rhett didn't help now, and if he had been here, Scarlett thought she might have a few choice words for him. She thought that those words, more than any notion of propriety, were what kept men out of the room while their wives gave birth.

* * *

Rhett waited grimly. Darkness had fallen long ago, and though his rational mind understood that it wasn't even that late, he felt as if _days_ had passed since he had left Scarlett in her room to have the baby. Not for the first time, he fought the urge to go to her, to demand that he be allowed to stay, no matter how much it shocked the women who were helping her. The only thing that really restrained him was the knowledge that he couldn't help, and that he might even be in the way.

His mind seemed to wander. Perhaps he really was getting old. He remembered, with a clarity that surprised him, the way he had felt when Scarlett had the miscarriage. How he had feared that she would die, how he had even prayed to a God he hadn't spoken to in decades, trying to bargain, only to realize that if God existed, he had already made up his mind. He remembered the purity of his relief, when she had lived... and then he had lost her anyway.

"Here, try some of this," Alex said, handing him a cup filled to the rim with a clear, pale liquid. Another, similarly filled cup stayed in his hand.

Rhett tasted it cautiously. Hard apple cider, cool and delicious, with just a hint of bite. He glanced over at Wade and Beau, both of whom had fallen asleep on the picnic table with their heads cradled in their arms. "No, don't wake them up," Alex advised him. "If they can sleep, their nerves don't need it. I'll save their share for the times when they will need it, which are coming soon. Beau is engaged, and Wade is married, and both of them will become fathers soon enough, I'll be bound."

"Yes. I hope they'll be good at it," Rhett said.

"Well, Wade had you as an example," Alex said. "And Tony, who was a pretty good man, even if he was a little hot-headed."

Rhett nodded. "Tell me something, Alex; do you have anything in your life that you regret, really regret? Something you'd give anything to take back?"

Alex hesitated. "A few things, actually," he said. "But if I could take any one thing back, I suppose it would have to be asking Dimity Munroe to wait for me. That was after the war, and I knew it was a damn fool thing to do, because it was going to be years before there was enough money to even think about it, if it ever happened. But I asked, because I loved her, and she waited, because she loved me. And in the end, I had to look her in the eye when I told her that I was going to marry Sally, her own sister. I broke her heart, and in the end she married someone else, anyway."

"I didn't know that," Rhett said.

Alex looked faintly surprised. "No, I guess you might not," he said. "You never came here when you and Scarlett were married the first time." He watched Rhett carefully to see his reaction to the reference to the divorce, but he just nodded.

"No, I didn't," he said. "I think I resented the place, to tell you the truth. Because Scarlett loved it so much, and she didn't love me."

"Did she not?" Alex asked. "I never saw you two together the first time, so I can't say for sure, but she seems to set a store by you this time around."

"I think she does," Rhett said. "Though I don't know why. I'm not a very admirable person, sometimes." He paused, and took a deep gulp of the cider. "Scarlett had a miscarriage about three years after our daughter Bonnie was born," he told Alex. The other man was silent, waiting for Rhett to go on or not, as he pleased. "She had just told me she was pregnant, and I laughed, and asked her who the lucky father was, when really, I had no doubt that it was mine. And she said that she wished it was anybody's baby but mine, and I said, 'Cheer up, maybe you'll have a miscarriage.' She tried to slap me, and I stepped aside, and when she overbalanced, she fell down the stairs, and she did have a miscarriage. She almost died. I've never really forgiven myself for that."

"And now you feel like you're going to lose her, because of it?"

Rhett was surprised that Alex understood the gist of his feelings so quickly. "Yes, I suppose that's it," he agreed. "I feel like, if there's a balance – a score being kept – then I've gotten way more than I deserve, and am due to lose it, any time now."

Alex nodded. "I've felt the same way myself, about my marriage to Sally. It's so much better than I really deserve, and I've come to love her and the kids so much, but it does seem like I'm always waiting for the bad luck that will end it all-"

He was interrupted by the opening of the door behind them. Both men turned quickly to see Young Doctor Joe emerge, his face wreathed in smiles. "What did I tell you?" he asked, drying his hands on a dishtowel before unrolling his shirt sleeves. "Before midnight, I said, and the clock in the kitchen says it's eleven fifty, exactly."

"It's done?" Rhett leaped to his side, suddenly looking like a much-younger man. "And she's okay?"

"She's fine," Joe said, smiling. "You can go up and see her whenever you like."

Rhett climbed the steps quickly, not even noticing them. His next conscious memory was of being outside her door; he grabbed the door knob and turned, pushing it opened. His eyes focused on her, only her; he didn't even notice that there was anyone else in the room although it was crowded. Scarlett lay propped against the pillows, her face pale and tired, but she was smiling at him – smiling! - and that seemed like a miracle to him. He took a hesitant step forward.

"Look, Rhett," she said eagerly. "It's twins again!"

* * *

**Aren't I evil? We'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out what sex the babies are.  
**

**The vote for the sex of the newest Butler took me totally by surprise. I thought everyone would want Rhett to have a little girl, like Bonnie, but instead, the vote was _completely_ the other way. 8-1 in favor of a boy; even the two who suggested the possibility of twins thought they should be boys. **

**To those who think two sets of twins are completely improbable: I researched this, and discovered that there are three main factors that increase the likelihood of having twins. They are, a family history of twins, the increasing age of the mother, and having previously given birth to a set of has two out of the three in her favor, so I decided to go for it.**

**To any reader who doesn't know who the 'Rodney' is that Beau refers to, the story on that is in my other story, What Happened To Scarlett. You can go there to read it if you like, or just go with the idea that Rodney was a Very Bad Person who hurt Penny and tried to kill Rhett.**

**Review and tell me how mean I am if you like. The goal for my next chapter is Thursday, but I can't promise; every time I do, my life gets in the way (Or my internet goes down!). Either way, I appreciate all the readers, and I love the reviews.**

**P.S I was trying to get this story up yesterday, so I spent the time I would normally have given to answering reviews on writing. But then the internet went out, and I didn't get anything posted, anyway :(. I promise I will answer now, though!**


	15. The Happiest Day

**The Happiest Day**

* * *

"Are you all right?" he asks, showing not so much as a flicker of interest in the nicely wrapped babies she holds. Scarlett starts to loose her sharp tongue on him; she is tired, and his lack of appreciation for the fruits of her efforts is annoying. Then she catches a glimpse of the haunted, almost despairing look in his eyes, and sighs softly. In the past two years, she has come to understand Rhett all too well, and she knows that he believed he would lose her because, deep inside, he believed he _deserved_ to lose her.

She sets the babies to one side (her predilection for huge beds ensures that there's enough room), and reaches her arms out to him. "I'm fine," she says, holding him with as much tenderness as she held the infants. "You really need to stop worrying about me so much," she tells him.

"I can't," he whispers, burying his face in the curve of her neck, breathing in the scent of her. He knows that she's taken a moment to have Ella, or perhaps Sally Jo, bring her a basin of water for washing, and a fresh nightgown, because she smells faintly of lemon verbena instead of blood and sweat. It was so like Scarlett, and he smiles against her hair at the thought of her vanity and attention to her own comfort. She could rise above such things when she has to, but the basic essence of Scarlett's personality will never change."You mean too much to me," he says, moving to where he could look deeply into her eyes before kissing her gently.

After a moment, he pulls back, and turns to the babies she had so carefully wrapped to display for him. "Now, let's see what we have here," he says, taking one bundle into his skilled hands while Scarlett picks up the other. Flipping the cloth aside, he examines the red, wrinkled face with interest. "No resemblance to either of us that I can see yet," he remarks.

Scarlett snorts with laughter. "No, thank goodness. I always think newborns are the homeliest things; even the ones who are going to be gorgeous when they're a month old start out all wrinkled and horrible."

"Well, given the quality of their parents, ours ought to be in that group," Rhett remarks. "But now to the important point: are they beautiful girls, or handsome boys, or perhaps one of each? When I spoke to your daughters earlier, they were rather firmly against that idea, so if it's a brother and sister, you may have some fences to mend."

"Well, it's not, so we don't need to worry about that," Scarlett says, fighting to hide her disappointment from him. Rhett is as sharp as ever, though, and he sees the droop of her lips as she turns her face away.

"What's the matter, dearest? Did I hurt your feelings?"

"No... well, yes! How did you know it was twins?" she asks, tears pooling in her eyes. She hates childbirth; it always leaves her so ridiculously weepy.

He smiles at her. "I didn't," he says cheerfully. "I was just joking with Lanie and Katie about the possibility, trying to cheer them up because they worried about you. I never dreamed it really would be two babies. So tell me, my beautiful wife: do we have two daughters, or two sons?"

"Sons," she tells him, looking up at him through her lashes. "And – oh, Rhett, I hope you won't be angry with me, but I've already named them!"

"Have you indeed," he says thoughtfully. It seems out of character for Scarlett; she was never terribly interested in babies before. "Well, you needn't worry too much, my love; I doubt if I'll object unless you've chosen something completely outlandish. I won't have my sons named Hufflepink and Evermint, as much for their sakes as for mine, but anything more in line with tradition will be all right with me."

"Maybe not," she says, eying him worriedly. "The one you are holding – he's the oldest, by the way – has a birthmark on his arm just like my father had. It's a little star shape, do you see it?"

And now that she points it out, he does. As flushed as the boy's skin is now, it is only faintly visible, but Rhett suspects it will be much more obvious once the redness of the newborn period fades a bit. "Yes." He nods.

"So, he's Gerald," she says, meeting his eyes. "Gerald Victor Butler." She sees surprise and a flicker of pain cross his face, and wonders if she's made an awful mistake. "And this -" she gestures to the baby she holds "- is Rhett Eugene Butler. I thought we could call him Gene, since we already have a Rhett."

She settles back and waits patiently to hear what he will say.

A long moment of silence ensues. Rhett looks from one baby to the other, his ridiculously long lashes lowered to hide his eyes. Scarlett knows that she will give up this idea if she must; it's not worth spoiling her marriage over, but she desperately wants him to understand her intentions.

When he finally looks up at her, she sees that he is smiling a little, and her heart lifts. "They are the only two of your children who are her full siblings," he says. "I think it's only right that they should carry something of hers with them."

"Oh, Rhett. I'm so glad you see that I mean it as – as a tribute, not a theft. It's a way of taking something of hers forward, into the future."

"Of course I understand," he says leaning forward to kiss her gently on the lips. "I know you loved her too."

The babies, pressed a little to closely by their parents' embrace, squirm. Gerald makes a little noise of irritation and opens his eyes, which are as dark as Rhett's own. Father and son study each other in silence for a moment; then the baby yawns and goes back to sleep.

Rhett laughs softly. "Puts me in my place," he remarks. "Scarlett, darling, I think you need to get some sleep. Let Dilcey take the babies – Burl's wife is here and can nurse them, if needed – while you rest."

"Oh, yes, that sounds heavenly. But first I'd like to eat; I asked Dilcey to bring me a big plate of chicken and potato salad."

Rhett grins at her. "Of course you did," he says.

* * *

The house was quiet when Rhett emerged on to the front porch. "Well, congratulations, dad!" a jovial voice says, and Rhett turns to see Wade behind him, smiling. The younger man's hair stood up in small tufts and his face was creased from the impromptu nap on the picnic table, but he looked relaxed and happy. "How is Mama?" he asked, in a more serious tone. "Joey says she is doing well, but that's just the physical. How is she – really?"

Rhett smiled. "She ate, and then went to sleep almost immediately," Rhett said. "Kezia will keep the babies tonight so that she can sleep; she's got a young'un of her own, so she can feed them when they need it. Did anyone tell you what Scarlett named them?"

"No, although I think you ought to get at least one named after you."

"Their names are Gerald Victor and Rhett Eugene," Rhett told him.

"Well, those are f-fine names," Wade said. A small – very small – stutter revealed when Wade belatedly understood the significance of the middle names. "How do you feel about that?" he asked Rhett, his eyes cautious. Rhett knew that Wade understood his sensitivity on the issue of Bonnie.

"Just like you do, of course," Rhett said. "I think they're fine names."

Wade nodded, and Rhett had to admire his tact. Apparently, he saw no reason to probe into Rhett's feelings as long as he didn't act as if he were upset. "Do you want me to go get the children in the morning?"

Rhett smiled at his stepson. "No, I think you should have a chance to sleep in," he said, gently mocking. "After all, it is your wedding night, or had you forgotten?" Wade's face turned crimson, and Rhett clapped him on the back. "Your train doesn't leave until two," he told Wade. "I imagine you can find something to keep you and your pretty wife occupied until then, hmm? I'll go get the girls, and William, too, and have him waiting for you when you're ready to go."

"Thank you, Uncle Rhett," Wade said, turning towards the house, eager to go be with his wife.

"Oh, and Wade?"

"Yes, Uncle Rhett?"

"Please tell Sally Jo thank you, from me. Your Mama says she was real helpful, during the birth."

"I will."

* * *

Rhett rose at dawn. Normally, he slept a little later, but today he had much to do, and he was eager to get started. First, he paid a visit to the nursery; it felt oddly familiar to walk into the room, with its crib and changing table. Sometimes it was impossible to believe that if Bonnie had lived, she would have turned sixteen this year. The same age that Scarlett had been, that long-ago day of the barbecue at Twelve Oaks. Walking into a nursery made it seem like yesterday, though it had been another nursery, in another house, in another city.

"I suppose we'll need to get another crib and changing table," he said, looking down at the babies sharing the single crib. "I wonder how fast Beau could make one, or perhaps we need to order one from the catalog. I need to remember to ask."

Carefully, he took a small, leather-bound notebook out of his inner coat pocket and made a note. Years ago, he would have laughed at the idea of keeping notes, but nowadays, it seemed as if he forgot half of what he wanted to do, or get, if he didn't.

Leaving the nursery, he headed to the kitchen. Dilcey stood at the stove, cooking breakfast just as if she hadn't been up past midnight helping with the birth.

"Good mornin' Cap'n Butler," she said, looking at him out of dark inscrutable eyes. She kept an even better poker face than he did; not for the first time, he wondered what went on behind those dark eyes.

"Good morning, Dilcey," he said, cheerfully. "Can I get some breakfast? I'm going to go to Tara and get the twi - No, I guess I'll have to start calling them by name now, won't I? I'm going to go get Katie, Lanie and baby William from Tara. I should have them back here before noon. Please tell Scarlett when she wakes up that if she eats, and rests properly, I'll bring the girls to see her when I get back."

"I'll tell Miz Scarlett that," Dilcey said. "'gratulations on the birth, suh. You has a might' fine-lookin' pair o' boys, there."

"Thank you, Dilcey. They are very fine-looking boys, aren't they?" Rhett smiled broadly, feeling as if his whole face – no, his whole being – radiated his relief that this was over, and Scarlett was safe.

* * *

The drive between Pine Bloom and Tara normally bored Rhett to tears; having no background in the County, he did not look at it through the misty eyes of nostalgia, as did most of his acquaintances here. Oddly enough, his normally hard-headed wife was one of those who did regard the area with clouded eyes. Perhaps, he thought, he would look at his childhood home in the same way if it had become as run-down as this area – indeed, all of rural Georgia – had become since the war. But the Charleston area, with its many broad rivers and easy access to sea ports, had blossomed since the war; several years of heavy rains, which caused flooding in these cotton fields, had only brought much-needed moisture to the rice plantations of _his_ childhood home.

But on this particular summer morning, it would have taken more than the sight of fields and barns slowly returning to a state of nature to depress him. Rhett whistled while he drove, pausing in his melodic rendition of "Dixie" only long enough to wonder when was the last time he had actually whistled. He couldn't remember, and shrugged off the thought carelessly. He needed to remind himself of boyish things again, now that he had sons to raise. God knows, he refused to become one of those old-fashioned, fire and brimstone spouting fathers like his own. He thought he'd shoot himself first.

No, he wanted to be a father like Alex Fontaine was a father, guiding a boy who was not even his own son. He wanted to be the kind of father to his boys that Tony Fontaine had been to Wade – the kind who would let himself drown in an icy pond when it became clear that further rescue attempts would put his son at risk. Not that Rhett wanted to drown; he merely wanted to be the kind of man who _would_ if it ever became necessary. Musing on thoughts of what he needed to do to be a better father to his children, Rhett found that the journey to Tara seemed much shorter than usual.

Before he knew it, he was stopping the wagon in front of Tara, and carefully securing the brake before stepping down. He wasn't even half-way to the door when it opened impetuously and several children – the three he had come to get among them – emerged onto the porch, each of them speaking at the same time, which reduced their actual words to an unintelligible babble of sound.

After several futile efforts to get them to calm down, Rhett put his fingers in his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. Immediate silence fell, and he found himself looking down at four small feminine faces, and one even smaller masculine one. They all wore the same expression of surprise, and Rhett had to bite his lip to avoid laughing. As a former military man, even if it was of brief duration, he knew that hesitation at this point would be fatal. So he said, "I cannot hear if you all talk at once. If you keep on, I will refuse to speak to you at all, and that won't suit anyone. So, one at a time, please. Susie, what did you wish to say?"

"I just wanted to ask how Aunt Scarlett is," Suellen's oldest daughter said, her voice shy.

"Your Aunt Scarlett is doing well. She was still asleep when I left this morning, but she was well enough to have a large meal before she fell asleep last night. Thank you very much for asking. Lanie, what did you want to know?"

"Did Mama have the baby? What kind of baby was it?" Lanie's voice was almost shrill with excitement.

"She did have the baby," Rhett said. "And apparently she has decided that babies are better when they come in pairs, because she had twins again. And Lanie and Katie have not just one, but a pair of brothers."

"Oh, boys," Susie said, turning away with a distinct lack of appreciation.

It took a surprisingly small amount of time to organize the children into the wagon and take off toward home again. Rhett strapped William into the seat beside him – he didn't trust either girl to be strong enough to hold the rambunctious fellow. Lanie sat on the far side of William, and Katie, the most trustworthy, sat alone in the back.

"Cap'n Rhett, can I ask you something?" Katie said, sounding strangely hesitant.

"What's that, Sweetie?" he asked.

"You can say no if you want to," she said. "We won't be mad. But Lanie and I have been thinking... it's our job to set a good example for the new boys, right? Since we're the big sisters now, and all?"

"Yes," Rhett said cautiously. "A few good examples would probably be very helpful."

"So, we were thinking... that we probably shouldn't call you Cap'n Rhett anymore. Because the babies, when they learn to talk, will say whatever we do, and you won't want them to call you Cap'n Rhett, probably. And you're not our _daddy_, or anything like that, but Lanie and I were thinking we could probably call you Papa. If you didn't mind. For – um – for the babies sake. Our brothers."

Katie's babbling stopped when she saw that Rhett was slowing the wagon. When it had come to a complete stop, he set the brake and turned to look at her, taking her hand, and Lanie's, as well.

"Miss Katie, Miss Lanie, I would be honored to have you call me Papa," he said, his voice completely serious. "For whatever reason you choose to do it." He kissed their small hands, each in turn.

"Thank you, Papa," Katie said shyly.

"Yes, thank you, Papa," Lanie echoed.

"Dadadada," Baby William babbled. Rhett looked down at him.

"Save that for Wade, young man. He's going to be Dada, not me. I'm going to be – well, Grampa, I suppose."

"Gah," Baby William said.

"That will do, for now," Rhett told him. Releasing the brake on the wagon, he slapped the reins down on the horse's back, and once again they headed toward Pine Bloom.

The End

* * *

**Twin boys just seemed right to me. Now the numbers are more even.**

**The title of this chapter is from GWTW, where Melly says the happiest days are the ones when babies come.**

**If you don't know why the middle names of the boys are important then you haven't read GWTW enough times:-). Bonnie's real name was Eugenia Victoria.**

**Thank you for reading. I always love to hear from you, so if you'd like to leave a review, I'd appreciate it!**


	16. Author's Allegory

**It is against the site rules to "publish" an A/N by itself, and I always hate it when authors do it anyway; I get a message about an update from an author I like, only to discover that she is telling me she is a.) leaving the story unfinished, b.) is going on a hiatus, or c.) just apologizes for not having an update. A disappointment, no matter how you look at it. To prevent that from happening to my readers I will say up front that there is an update (sort of), and that far from going on hiatus, I have discovered a new way to breathe life into what a work that I really thought was almost finished (like discovering a new seam in a coal mine you thought was worked out). Still, there is some information I need to give out, so to avoid breaking the rules about A/Ns, I will present the information in allegorical form.**

* * *

**Author's Allegory**

On a gloomy Sunday afternoon, in a small city deep in the American south, Aspiring Writer, and her companion, Muse, journeyed to the warehouse district to make shipping arrangements for the last few chapters of her manuscript, Moments with Wade. They entered the large but not blockbuster-sized warehouse through the street door, only to find the building nearly deserted.

"That's odd," Aspiring Writer said. 'There should be trucks waiting at the docks, at least. Oh, well. I'll just go get everything ready before they get here, shall I?"

"Suit yourself," said Muse, wandering away to study the debris scattered on the floor of the warehouse. There were huge piles of discarded adverbs, a few pieces of rope with commas woven into them, and in the shadows, you could see small sentences scurrying about, frantically hunting for punctuation. Finally, Muse found a nice pile of passive verbs; these were always so comfortable and relaxing, and Muse didn't understand why Aspiring Writer hated them so much. Muse lay down on the pile of verbs and drowsily watched the modifiers dangle overhead as she waited for her friend to finish.

After a few minutes, a piercing scream rang through the building. Muse rolled over and sat up just in time to see her friend running towards her. "What's up, AW?" Muse asked.

"The most terrible thing has happened, Muse!" AW said, taking hold of her friends' arm. "They're gone!"

"What's gone?" Muse asked. She liked AW well enough, and she certainly was helpful when it came to boring stuff like typing up Muses' stories, but sometimes her moods drove Muse up the wall.

"The last three chapters. I know I had them here, all ready to be loaded up and shipped out, but now they're gone. I can't find them anywhere!"

"Oh, yeah," Muse said, a little sheepishly. She probably_ should _have told AW what was going on; she had put it off because AW always made such a fuss about things.

AW caught her tone. "What do you know about this, Muse? Did you do something with the last three chapters?"

"No, no, I didn't do anything with them," Muse assured her. "Look at this, and you'll see." And from her purse she pulled a hand-sewn manuscript bound in the softest leather, written on heavy parchment, illustrated with exquisitely detailed drawings. On the front of this artwork in book form, in flawless calligraphy, was inscribed, "Moments with Wade."

Flipping to the last page, Muse pointed to the last words. They read,

"Releasing the brake on the wagon, he slapped the reins down on the horse's back, and once again they headed toward Pine Bloom.

The End"

"But – but – I never put in 'The End.'" AW sputtered.

"I know," Muse said. "I did."

"But why?"

Muse rolled her eyes. Honestly, sometimes AW was just so_ dense_.

"Because it is the end. That's the last sentence."

"But Muse! It can't be the end! I promised that there would be three more chapters. We could probably get by with two, or even one, but to just _end_ it, no, we can't. The readers are expecting -"

Muse glared at her friend. "It's done, AW," she interrupted. "We're ready to move onto the next project."

"But I thought after this project, we could take a week or so off. Rest and relax, you know? And then, when we were ready, we'd sit down over a nice cup of tea and discuss the next project."

Muse yawned. "Naw," she said. "I'm ready to go to work. I've already rented a warehouse for the next project and everything. See?" she pulled her friend over to the door and pointed. Across the street, looking neat and prosperous in the gloom, sat a brightly lit brick warehouse. Several trucks were backed up to the docks, and through the open doors, they saw workers briskly carrying boxes back and forth.

Still, AW hesitated. "It does look nice," she said. "Especially compared to the mess things are in over here -" She glanced disparagingly around the dingy, cluttered building they stood in. "But there's work to do here..."

"Oh, look!" Muse exclaimed. "They're unloading the boxes of new ideas. That's my favorite part."

"Oh, let me see!" AW came to stand close beside her friend. "Ooh, look at them," she whispered. "So shiny and new..."

"We could go over and have a closer look," Muse said temptingly.

"Well, I guess a look wouldn't hurt," AW said. The two left the building and walked across the street. Muse began explaining the new concept, and how it dovetailed nicely with the old.

"The customers will hardly even know the difference," she soothed. "Except for the fact that they'll have to add a new story to their alert list, they'll hardly know anything has changed."

That wasn't quite true, but Muse figured AW would accept it for long enough to get caught up in the new project, anyway.

By the time they had finished admiring the new ideas (so sleek and clever in their little boxes), AW was nodding and adding her own suggestions to Muses' ideas. And while Muse knew that she would have to be careful about that (AW could nitpick all the _life_ out of a story, if Muse didn't stop her!) for the time being, it was just what Muse wanted to hear.

* * *

** Okay, I thought it was funny, but maybe allegory and humor isn't my forte. If you hated it, or just didn't get it, I won't be insulted; it won't be the first time I told a joke and had people give me a blank stare. The important thing to get out of my little piece of whimsy is that there's good news and bad news. The good news is that I found an idea, a hook, to continue the story of Scarlett and her family. The bad news is that the way this new story is going to be written is so different from what I have been doing that it more-or-less demands to be posted as a separate story. **

**The new story is mystery/suspense, more like What Happened to Scarlett than Moments with Wade. It won't jump around in sequence the way MWW did, and it will have less pure fluff. That's the plan, at least; as you may have gathered, Muse doesn't always let me know what's going on. The new story is called To Each His Own(a tribute to the old movie starring Olivia de Haviland, and a few story elements will be taken from there, as well), and I'm going to post the first chapter as soon as I post this. **

**Feel free to review and let me know how you like the allegorical author's notes. Like I said, I won't be insulted if you don't; I'm not really trying to be a humor writer, and if nobody but me thinks it's funny, that will just confirm that decision for me.**

**Also, since this is the last of Moments with Wade, please review and let me know how you liked it overall, as a collection of connected short stories. I'd love to hear your views, especially if you have some constructive criticism!**


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